‘I was extremely motivated today. I was really driven to make a big performance. To be really honest when I got to 100 I wasn’t expecting to still get booed, so that was pretty disappointing’

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis silenced the boos of the Adelaide crowd with a defiant century before declaring on 259-9 and giving his bowlers a crack at Australia in the final hour of the opening day of the day-night third Test yesterday.
 Australia got through the final 12 overs without loss but the declaration prevented Dave Warner from opening the batting as he was off the field towards the end of the South African innings.
 Matt Renshaw, one of three new caps in the Australia side, and Usman Khawaja faced the new pink ball instead but they were only able to put 14 runs on the board and will resume on eight and three respectively.
 Du Plessis’s timely declaration capped what must have been an extremely satisfying first day for the South African, who came to the crease to catcalls with his side tottering at 44-3 but departed to an ovation after hitting 118 not out.
 Two days after being fined for ball-tampering during the second Test victory that sealed the series with a match to spare, du Plessis showed just the sort of grit and determination that Australia have been looking for from their batsmen.
 The hosts have far fewer concerns about their pace attack and Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and the recalled Jackson Bird earlier showed why with a fine display of fast bowling that had the first seven batsmen caught behind the wickets.
 Hazlewood took 4-68, while Starc and Bird pitched in with two wickets each as the Australian quicks bowled disciplined lines with the pink ball on the Adelaide track.
 Du Plessis had won the toss and decided to bat first but the first session went decisively to the hosts. Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy were despatched for five runs apiece after opener Stephen Cook had earned a reprieve when Starc trapped him lbw only for the TV replay to show the left-armer had overstepped the mark.
 Cook was unable to add to his series-best tally of 40 after the tea break before edging Starc to Steve Smith in the cordon and when Temba Bavuma (8) got an outside edge to a Bird delivery, the tourists were 117-5.
 As on his Test debut at the same ground in 2013, when he hit a defiant 376-ball unbeaten knock of 110 to help South Africa bat out four-and-a-half sessions for a draw, it was left to du Plessis to frustrate the Australians.
 He put on 32 with Quinton de Kock for the sixth wicket before Hazlewood served up another peach of a delivery to send the wicketkeeper back for 24, with Vernon Philander (4) following soon afterwards.
 It was just after the end of his 54-run partnership with Kyle Abbott (17) that he secured his sixth Test hundred with two runs to fine leg off the 147th ball he faced.
 As South Africa entered unfamiliar territory in their first night session in Test cricket, du Plessis put on another 39 runs with debutant left-arm finger spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (18 not out) before bringing an end to the innings.
 Du Plessis scampered through for two off Hazlewood to bring up his sixth Test century, prompting a smattering of boos amid the applause of the 32,255 crowd.
 “I was extremely motivated today. I was really driven to make a big performance and score a hundred,” du Plessis said. “To be really honest when I got to 100 I wasn’t expecting to still get booed, so that was pretty disappointing.”
 It was a tribute to his focus and concentration as du Plessis played a chanceless innings, making him stand out in contrast to the problems experienced by his teammates. “My best (Test hundred). Surprisingly, technically, I was the best this whole series. I felt really good, but in the context of everything else, (it was) the best,” du Plessis said.
 Dashing wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who has scores of 84, 64 and 104 in the series, had a rare failure by comparison, managing just 24 off 33 balls.
 Australian wicket-keeper Matthew Wade, recalled to the national side for dumped gloveman Peter Nevill, had five dismissals, four catches and a stumping.
 The hosts are fighting off the threat of their sixth straight Test defeat, after losing 3-0 in Sri Lanka in July and August. They are also on the brink of their first-ever home Test series whitewash.

Scoreboard
South Africa (1st innings)
S Cook c Smith b Starc     40
D Elgar c Khawaja b Starc     5
H Amla c Renshaw b Hazlewood     5
JP Duminy c Wade b Hazlewood     5
F du Plessis (not out)     118
T Bavuma c Wade b Bird     8
Q de Kock c Wade b Hazlewood     24
V Philander c Wade b Hazlewood     4
K Abbott lbw Bird     17
K Rabada st Wade b Lyon     1
T Shamsi (not out)     18
Extras (b3, lb8, w2, nb1)     14
Total (9 wickets declared, 76 overs)     259
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Elgar), 2-36 (Amla), 3-44 (Duminy), 4-95 (Cook), 5-117 (Bavuma), 6-149 (de Kock), 7-161 (Philander), 8-215 (Abbott), 9-220 (Rabada)
Bowling: Starc 23-5-78-2 (1nb), Hazlewood 22-5-68-4, Bird 16-3-57-2, Lyon 15-1-45-1
Australia (1st innings)
U Khawaja (batting)     3
M Renshaw (batting)     8
Extras (lb2, nb1)     3
Total (no wicket, 12 overs)     14
Bowling: Philander 4-2-10-0 (1nb), Abbott 3-3-0-0, Rabada 3-2-1-0, Shamsi 2-1-1-0