Australia win by 162 runs and lead the series 1-0. A remarkable win after they were 38 for 3 on the opening day. The match see-sawed a bit yesterday after they collapsed in the second innings but Australia always had a grip on the match. SA made steady progress to the target yesterday but the Australian bowlers didn't allow too many free runs today and earned their wickets. Johnson rounds off an excellent match with eight wickets to back his unbeaten 96.
SA will lay the blame on their first-innings effort, rather the lack of it, save for de Villiers's century. For the third straight season, they've lost the first Test of a series. They've struggled to shake off the rustiness and that is something they will have to address. Let's not forget that when cornered, they can bite back hard. They recorded come-from-behind victories against India and West Indies after losing the opening Test. So Australia better watch out. Stay with us for the presentation.
Smith: "Aus performed well through the five days. We played some good cricket in the back end but credit to Australia. We know we're a lot better than how we performed over the last couple of days. We just let ourselves down."
Ponting: "All three debutantes stood up. The selections have been justified, a real team effort. This team is bouncing back. Lot of different personalities in the group. We had the worst of the batting conditions in the first day but we did well. The new guys will know the words to the team song."
Johnson is the Man of the Match: "I just try and do the same thing everytime. I don't mind batting at No.8, don't mind batting at 9."
Kallis gets the Diamond Award for scoring 10,000 Test runs. "Nice milestone but sad it had to come in a defeat."
That's it from all of us here. Thanks for the mails. The second Test at Durban starts March 6. On behalf of Jamie Alter, this is Kanishkaa signing off. Cheers!
DW Steyn b Johnson 6 (18m 12b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50.00
PL Harris c Katich b Siddle 8 (42m 35b 0x4 0x6) SR: 22.85
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