Top two Test sides know how to put on a show

Marnus Labuschagne walked to the middle of Newlands on Wednesday morning, and the volume all around him was turned up several notches.

Those drinking beer under the Oaks stopped mid-sip. Out the back, patrons halted their food orders. Attention turned to events in the middle.

The Proteas wanted to make sure Labuschange knew his Test future was in doubt. Labuschange isn’t shy of a chat. Ryan Rickelton revealed that he was happy to engage in banter with fellow Klerksdorp-born Marco Jansen in Gqeberha last week.

“Marnus is obviously Afrikaans, which is the highlight for [Jansen] — that they can chat in Afrikaans to each other,” Rickelton said.

Wednesday all the banter was one way — directed at Labuschagne. From Rickelton behind the stumps. Marques Ackerman at short leg. Maybe Aiden Markram at slip and the bowler Simon Harmer.

It was glorious theatre. Test cricket at its finest. Australia vs South Africa encapsulated in the next five balls. And in those five balls, Labuschagne illustrated why in this rivalry, you can’t be timid. And if you’ve got high blood pressure, look for a different job.

This is raw, full-throttle stuff. Labuschagne poked and prodded. He desperately wanted to get off strike. South Africa wouldn’t let him. Temba Bavuma placed Marco Jansen at long-on, to troll him. It was there Labuschagne was caught last week attempting to whack Harmer, but the ball got held up in the stiff Gqeberha breeze. Labuschagne’s dismissal there led to calls for the axe to finally drop on a batter, who hasn’t scored a Test hundred in 48 innings.

It was with all that going on his head that he leaned forward and edged the last ball of Harmer’s over to Markram at slip. A thunderous roar from a crowd, which seemed to revel in the part it played in all the drama. A five-ball duck. More questions will follow about Labuschagne’s future.

And Australia vs South Africa in a nutshell.

Don’t bother forecasting what’s going to happen next either. Just because Australia win by 214 runs one week, and then has South Africa 110/6 the next, doesn’t mean they still can’t lose by an innings and 31 runs in this third Test.

Day one of the deciding Test in Cape Town provided a microcosm of what this rivalry has been like for most of the last two decades. One team appears to be on top, the other charges back.

Wind back the clock to the first Test of the groundbreaking tour Down Under in 2008, when South Africa picked up three wickets in the first hour. Australia fought back and reached 341/9 at stumps. South Africa conceded a 94-run deficit in that Test and won it chasing 414 for the loss of four wickets.

Or last year’s World Test Championship final, where South Africa were reduced to 43/4 at stumps on day one, having bowled out Australia for 212.

The Proteas turned that around and chased a record fourth innings total to win a Test at Lord’s.

Mitchell Starc was asked after the first day’s play in Cape Town if he could provide a theory for the vicious swings in momentum when these sides meet. He could not. “It’s two good cricket teams playing some hard-fought cricket,” said Starc. “At times, it’s going to get away from the other. At times, you’re going to wrestle the momentum back.”

A bruising series was predicted, especially with the attacking talent in each of the bowling units, combined with batting orders that appear vulnerable. And then what happens? In the first two Tests, the winning team has recovered from a precarious position to turn the match in their favour.

Just when you think you’ve got a handle on things, South Africa blast 140 runs in a session, it looks like they can bat for two days and then they get bowled out for 329, with the last four wickets falling in six balls. It doesn’t make sense. It’s wild. It’s Test cricket between South Africa and Australia.