Hazlewood six for 49 bowls South Africa out as Australia win Durban Test by 214 runs
Josh Hazlewood took a career-best six for 49 on the fifth day of the Durban Test to bowl South Africa out for 206 and secure a 214-run victory for Australia.
The result added another chapter to the recurring selection debate around Scott Boland and Hazlewood, with Hazlewood’s dozen years of service cited as the explanation for his continued preference when fit. Australia’s pace unit produced mixed returns: Mitchell Starc struggled for consistent radar and the reverse swing that served him on his last visit, Pat Cummins bowled tidily without posing a sustained threat in the second innings, and Nathan Lyon extracted some bite but finished wicketless.
The decisive sequence began on the fourth evening when Aiden Markram and David Bedingham looked comfortable before Hazlewood struck with a perfect nip-backer that hit Bedingham’s pad and prompted him to walk without a review. From 73 for one, Australia engineered a collapse that saw the score move to 86 for four by the close of play that night.
South Africa resumed the following morning with Markram—who had previously made two hundreds against Australia in three fourth-innings attempts—appearing immovable and Wiaan Mulder defending with compact technique. They negotiated testing deliveries and scored steadily enough to avoid stagnation, giving the appearance they could occupy the crease for a draw if conditions intervened.
After 25 overs of patient resistance, Hazlewood with a ball that had seen 66 overs introduced a leg slip to target the pads; Mulder attempted a flick square but a touch of reverse movement produced an inside edge that Alex Carey took with a one-handed diving catch to end a 32-over, 69-run partnership. Mulder had spent more than two hours at the crease for 29, and that dismissal opened a route back into the innings.
Matt Renshaw then profited from the new opportunity by drawing a flinty edge from Kyle Verreynne in the next over, but South Africa maintained periods of obstinacy led by Markram and fragments of aggression from Marco Jansen. After another 17 overs and growing concern about an early finish, Australia returned to Hazlewood with a new ball to force the issue.
Hazlewood’s new-ball spell removed Jansen (on 35) through to off stump and, three balls later, Simon Harmer edged a rising delivery, leaving Hazlewood on five. At eight down, with 201 on the board in the 85th over, Markram inside-edged Mitchell Starc having batted two minutes shy of six hours for 75, and Hazlewood then had Anrich Nortje caught at midwicket to finish the innings and his personal haul.
The wickets moved Hazlewood up the all-time Test list: he passed Fred Trueman on 307, Morne Morkel and Lance Gibbs on 309, and Brett Lee on 310, and levelled Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan on 311. With three more wickets to pass Mitchell Johnson he would have ahead only Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne along with his three current colleagues; fitness permitting, the piece notes that next week could see four of Australia’s top seven wicket-takers in the same team. Scott Boland, with 82 wickets to his name, was identified as likely to be required in due course, and, as in 2018, Australia leave Durban with a series lead. This time they need to keep it.
