Australia v South Africa: Tourists win first Test by 177 runs in Perth

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Kagiso Rabada celebrates a wicketImage source, Reuters
Image caption,

Kagiso Rabada (centre) took 7-170 in the match and has 36 wickets at 24 apiece in nine Tests

First Test, Perth

South Africa 242 (De Kock 84) & 540-8 (Duminy 141, Elgar 127)

Australia 244 (Warner 97) & 361 (Khawaja 97, Nevill 60*, Rabada 5-92)

South Africa won by 177 runs

Australia slipped to a fourth successive Test defeat as South Africa won the opening Test of their three-match series by 177 runs in Perth.

Set a notional 539, the hosts were bowled out for 361 shortly before tea on the final day thanks to 21-year-old pace bowler Kagiso Rabada's 5-92.

Usman Khawaja made 97 and Peter Nevill an unbeaten 60 for Australia, who lost 3-0 in Sri Lanka in August.

Victory was South Africa's third in a row at the Waca, after 2008 and 2012.

It was completed without Dale Steyn, the world's number two-ranked bowler who was ruled out of the series on Friday with a fractured shoulder.

Australia, 169-4 overnight, survived for 119 overs in total in the fourth innings on a pitch featuring large cracks.

However, their first-innings collapse proved costly, slipping from 158-1 to 244 all out in response to South Africa's 242.

JP Duminy made 141 and Dean Elgar 127, putting on 250 for the third wicket in South Africa's second-innings 540-8 declared.

The second Test in Hobart starts on Saturday and the final Test in Adelaide on 24 November.

Australia batsman Joe Burns will replace Shaun Marsh, who suffered a broken finger in Perth, for the second Test, while the uncapped Callum Ferguson has been added to the squad.

Image source, Twitter
Image caption,

Dale Steyn tweeted his congratulations after returning to South Africa

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