Australia v South Africa second Test LIVE: Australia hope for quick wickets to keep Proteas under pressure

Kagiso Rabada has spoken about resuming his battle with Steve Smith, eight years after the shoulder brush at St George's Park that pushed the infamous 2018 series to boiling point.

Passed fit to play after a hamstring injury, Rabada shapes as South Africa’s best chance of getting back into the series after going 1-0 down in Durban. He was instrumental in series wins over Australia in 2016 and two years later played a starring role with nine wickets in the Test Championship final at Lord’s last year.

Pivotal will be his duel with Smith, who was struck heavily on the helmet by Anrich Nortje at Kingsmead but subsequently passed concussion tests. In 2018, Rabada had nudged shoulders with Smith after taking his wicket here, initially copping an ICC ban for physical contact then being cleared to play on appeal, a sequence that infuriated Smith and the touring team ahead of the fateful Newlands Test.

Smith has been made unavailable for media interviews so far on this tour.

Australia’s Test bowling attack ranks among the best in the world over the last 50 years, having broken new ground as a quartet and taking an unprecedented number of wickets as a four-man unit.

Statistically, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon sit comfortably in the same pantheon as some of the best West Indian attacks from the late ’70s.

Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Colin Croft combined hostility with control. People have described facing them as like facing an execution squad, offering no respite from either end.

In Durban against South Africa last week, Australia out-bowled, out-batted and out-fielded their opponents and deserved their decisive victory. Central to the win was the attack.

Gqeberha: Nathan Lyon walked up to Scott Boland about 45 minutes before the first ball and shook his hand, before the exchange turned into more of a hug.

In that instant, those watching closely knew that Lyon had been dropped and Boland recalled, the first time the spin bowler had been left out of a red-ball Test when fit to play in 13 years.

On a day dominated by rain sweeping through the Eastern Cape and leading to play being abandoned after just 12.2 overs with South Africa on 2-20, Lyon’s moment with Boland was heavy with meaning. As well as he had bowled in Durban, Lyon is now only ever a grassy pitch away from losing his place, largely because Boland is so skilful.

A couple of hours later, Boland showed exactly how skilful by producing the day’s other significant juncture.

Aiden Markram, who Lyon had found impassable last week, lost his middle stump as he was tempted into driving a nip-backer. Next ball, David Bedingham had reasonable cause to play a ball on a similar line, only to perish instantly when this one jagged away and took the outside edge.

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G’day cricket fans.

Welcome to our live coverage of the second Test in Gqeberha.

It’s Jon Pierik here in the Melbourne bureau, and we’ve got Dan Brettig on assignment in South Africa as we gear up for what should be a compelling day two of the second Test.

Play gets under way at 6.45pm AEDT, which is a slightly earlier thanb yesterday because of the heavy rain which meant only 12.2 overs were bowled.

As always, if you have any questions for myself or Bretto, sing out.