Delhi: An exciting match was witnessed on the first day of the third Test being played between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town. South Africa made a strong start due to the excellent batting of Aiden Markram and Marx Ackerman, but later the team lost wickets continuously. Mitchell Starc wreaked havoc with the new ball, taking 6 wickets and reducing South Africa's first innings to 329 runs.

At one time South Africa's score was 158 runs without losing any wicket. After this the team lost 5 wickets within 29 runs. Although Marco Jansen and Ryan Rickelton tried to handle the innings by adding 95 runs for the seventh wicket, South Africa could not last long in front of Starc's lethal bowling.

Ackerman and Markram gave a great start

Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and decided to bowl first, but his move proved wrong in the beginning. South African openers Marx Ackerman and Aiden Markram batted fast and added 158 runs for the first wicket.

Ackerman scored the first half-century of his Test career and scored 95 runs in 94 balls.

He remained just 5 runs away from his first Test century. He was stumped while trying to play a shot by moving forward on the ball of Nathan Lyon.

On the other hand, Markram played an inning of 78 runs. He was moving towards a century, but got caught while trying to play a pull shot on Josh Hazlewood's short ball. Starc took a brilliant catch.

Lion changed the course of the match

After a strong start by South Africa, Nathan Lyon gave the first success to Australia. After Ackerman was out, Markram also could not last long.

After this, captain Temba Bavuma was bowled by Lion without opening the account.

Cooper Connolly took his first wicket in Test cricket by dismissing Matthew Britzke. In this way, South Africa's score from 158 runs without wicket reached 232 runs for 6 wickets.

Batsmen trapped in Starc's short balls

After the tea break, Australia used short balls and it also paid off. Starc dismissed David Bedingham and Wiaan Mulder in just three balls.

Bedingham scored 50 runs, but the ball went into the air after being hit by his bat on a short ball.

Hazlewood took a brilliant catch near the boundary. After this, Mulder also got caught by Alex Carey behind the wicket and could not open the account.

South Africa's innings faltered once again. However, Ryan Rickelton and Marco Jansen held the team together with a 95-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Yanson batted aggressively and completed half-century for the second consecutive time in his Test career.

Starc took four wickets with the new ball

When Australia took the second new ball, Starc had complete control over the match. He dismissed Rickelton and Yanson with brilliant swing and precise line-length.

After this, even Gerald Coetzee and Kagiso Rabada could not face his balls.

Starc took 6 wickets for 72 runs in 16.3 overs. South Africa's last four wickets fell within just 2 runs. Nathan Lyon also took 2 wickets for 71 runs.

In this way the South African team was all out for 329 runs. Four batsmen scored half-centuries, but no one could convert into a big innings. After falling behind in the beginning, Australia made a brilliant comeback and strengthened its position in the match.