South Africa worked, then wilted, feeling that perhaps rain interruptions were not such a bad idea as the second day of the third Test in Sydney became more a matter of Australians chasing milestones than one of competitive cricket. Usman Khawaja’s golden career codicil continued with 195 not out, Steve Smith scored 104 to draw clear of Donald Bradman’s tally of 29 Test centuries, and Travis Head brought party time with him in a pyrotechnic 70 from 59 balls as Australia finished another rain-affected day on 475-4.
For Khawaja, that made it three centuries in his last three innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground that was his original home turf. During last year’s Ashes, what he thought would be a one-off farewell match as a Covid replacement instead resulted in twin hundreds and a permanent recall. He went on to make over a thousand Test runs in 2022, including two centuries in a poignant tour of Pakistan, the country where he was born. This trip back to Sydney took the ride full circle, leaving him eyeing off the first double-century of his long but stop-start career.
For Smith it was a day of milestones. Past Michael Clarke’s tally of 8643 Test runs to move into fourth place for Australians, behind only Steve Waugh, Allan Border and Ricky Ponting. His 30th century drawing him level with Matthew Hayden and behind Waugh and Ponting. In what will probably matter more to him, two centuries in a season, the first time he has managed that since touring England in 2019. And an improved conversion rate: three of his last four scores above 50 have now become hundreds, after managing one from the dozen before that.
Smith has looked a different species in 2022 to the more hesitant version that appeared after the 2019 Ashes and persisted through the pandemic. The sporadic nature of Tests in that time probably played a part. Now there is more surety in his play. Smith was not comfortable early in his innings in Sydney, unable to time the ball. He vented frustration in some uncharacteristically aggressive shots to punctuate defensive periods. But the confidence grew with the innings, piercing cover against pace and lofting to the leg side against spin.
South Africa went from feeling like they were in the game to feeling out of it, and when spinner Keshav Maharaj held a return catch off Smith’s leading edge, it was after having bowled 401 wicketless deliveries across the series. It was met with more of a shrug than a celebration.
It’s illustrative of his career compared to Khawaja’s that, having begun around the same time, Smith has made more than twice as many runs. Current Khawaja is a different incarnation, and all through their partnership of 209 he moved inevitably onwards, occasionally edging one of the quick bowlers with soft hands through the cordon, otherwise picking up runs from the pull shot, or challenging spin with the reverse sweep or movement down the pitch. A missed chance on 119 was his only true error, when he cut through gully and Anrich Nortje lost sight of the ball.
From 356-3 when Smith was out, Head added most of the partnership of 112 in no time at all, taking down the South Africans who kept hitting the wrong length to one of the game’s premier enjoyers of short-pitched bowling. Belting Simon Harmer’s off-break into the sightscreen was an exclamation mark, and Head is on a streak of five half-centuries and two hundreds in 10 innings for Australia across formats this summer.
Once Head hit a catch to deep midwicket, Matthew Renshaw got a couple of overs in the middle after a long hiatus from the side and a long two days watching from the sidelines as an isolated covid case. With rain again ending play early, Renshaw will surely get a little more time tomorrow to bat, and Khawaja to attempt to reach 200. With time left in the match but rain an ongoing likelihood, the home team will then have to gauge how much longer to punish the visiting bowlers. Nortje’s 2-55 stood out like a beacon, but the rest of the reading is grim.
