Rain allowed barely a morning and an afternoon of cricket at St George’s Park on Sunday, but Scott Boland needed just two deliveries to make the day his own. The seamer, playing only his 20th Test for Australia, removed Aiden Markram and David Bedingham in successive balls before the weather closed in for good, leaving South Africa 20 for two after 12.2 ragged overs in Gqeberha.
It was a fragment of a day. Within it, though, Boland did damage that South Africa’s batsmen will carry for the rest of the match. Markram and Bedingham were the two men who had made the most of their innings in the first Test defeat in Durban, and Boland accounted for both.
Markram fell for 11 to Boland’s tenth delivery, a ball that nipped in off the pitch, took an inside edge and crashed into middle stump. Bedingham lasted a single ball, caught behind by one that seamed away. For a bowler who came on as first change and found a challenging length almost immediately after the afternoon resumption, it was a reminder of why Australia keep finding room for him.
Boland’s path to this moment has been an unusual one. His Melbourne debut in December 2021 produced six wickets for seven runs against England, one of the most remarkable starts in Test history, yet he has made only 19 appearances since. The reason is the quality ahead of him. Captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood form one of the most feared pace attacks in world cricket, and Boland has often had to wait his turn.
His opportunity on Sunday came when Australia left out off-spinner Nathan Lyon and chose an all-seam attack for a green-tinged pitch under heavily overcast skies. Cummins, speaking after winning the toss, had no doubts about what his teammate offers. “Scotty Boland has been incredible whenever he’s played Test cricket,” he said. “When there’s anything in the wicket, he gets a lot of seam movement, super accurate, and then even if it does flatten out, he brings control, experience. He’s the whole package.”
The day itself was a stop-start affair. Rain began falling ten minutes after the toss and pushed the start back by two hours. When play finally began, Markram looked in good touch, striking two boundaries off Starc before the weather intervened again with South Africa on 11 without loss after 5.3 overs. The afternoon session brought Boland’s burst, and then a final stoppage that proved to be the last of the day, leaving new cap Marques Ackerman unbeaten on five and captain Temba Bavuma on four.
Boland for Lyon was the only change to the Australian side that won the first Test by 214 runs. South Africa, chasing a series-levelling result, made three changes of their own. Kagiso Rabada returned after recovering from a hamstring injury in place of left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, while Ackerman and Matthew Breetzke came in for Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne, with Ryan Rickelton taking the wicketkeeping gloves from Verreynne.
With so little cricket possible, both sides will hope the weather relents and the match takes on a fuller shape. For Boland, though, two wickets in two balls on a day that barely existed were enough to leave his mark, and to leave South Africa’s top order with hard work ahead of them.