Australia in Trouble, But Steve Smith Creates History Against South Africa
South Africa has bowled out Australia for just 99 runs, enforcing a follow on. But Steve Smith stood as a lone warrior, scoring 28 runs off 88 balls. With this knock, he also managed to breach the 11,000 runs mark in the longest format of the game.
The second Test match between South Africa and Australia will be remembered for the domination of the Proteas. For the first three days they dominated with the bat, and now they have decided to do well with the ball. After the team declared at a massive score, Rabada and Jansen put pressure on them.
Steve Smith, however, stood as the lone warrior for the Aussies, as wickets kept falling from the other end. He was able to score 28 runs for the team off 88 balls, and this knock came at a time when no other batsmen was able to cross even 20 runs.
With this, he also managed to breach the 11,000 runs mark in the longest format of the game. He now joins Allan Border and Ricky Ponting in this iconic list of Australian players to have breached this mark.
Our Take
Steve Smith has been acting like a lone warrior for the Aussies in this game. When all the batsmen failed to score runs, he kept the other end well but Wiaan Mulder decided to change things. As the Proteas have enforced a follow-on after bowling them out for 99, Smith will now be eager to ensure that the game ends in a draw.