South Africa v Australia, 3rd Test, Cape Town, 1st day

Tea Australia 194 for 2 (Warner 120*, Clarke 22*) v South AfricaLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

David Warner was in fine form on the first day in Cape Town GettyImagesEnlarge

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Matches: South Africa v Australia at Cape TownSeries/Tournaments: Australia tour of South AfricaTeams: Australia | South Africa

David Warner reached a hundred, Morne Morkel tenderised Michael Clarke during a brutal spell and Dale Steyn left the field injured in a dramatic second session at Newlands. The fact that Clarke survived Morkel's assault with his wicket and his bone structure intact was a victory for Australia, albeit a painful one, and at tea he was on 22 with a much more fluent Warner on 120 and the total had moved on to 194 for 2.

South Africa had claimed just one wicket in each of the first two sessions and their cause took a blow when Steyn limped off with soreness in his right hamstring after bowling the first ball of his 11th over. It is remarkable that Steyn has missed only one Test in five and a half years but there could hardly be a worse time for him to succumb to injury, with a series on the line, although it was yet to be determined whether he would be available to bowl again in the match.

His absence meant an increased workload for Morkel, who sustained an around-the-wicket line to Clarke and peppered him with short deliveries that struck him all over the body. Much like South Africa's batsmen against Mitchell Johnson in the first Test in Centurion, Clarke knew what was coming but was unable to find a comfortable way of handling it.

Clarke is searching for a purple patch, but not the kind that Morkel caused on his left forerarm after banging in a few short ones that left the Australian captain bruised. Worse for Clarke was the blow he took on the left jaw after he failed to get out of the way of another 147kph Morkel bouncer that ricocheted off his shoulder and up under the helmet, bringing the physio immediately on to the ground.

Clarke remained at the crease, though, although he was lucky to survive the very next ball when another Morkel bumper lobbed off his gloves and narrowly missed the stumps while also evading the short-leg fieldsman. When they managed to rotate the strike and Warner faced Morkel's short stuff, he hooked with the confidence of a man who had reached a near run-a-ball century.

Warner brought up his second hundred of the series from his 104th delivery with a pull fine for four off the bowling of Kyle Abbott. Warner was the dominant partner in all three of his half-century stands, first 65 with Chris Rogers, then 73 with Alex Doolan and finally the unbroken 57-run combination with Clarke, who moved back up to No.4 to accommodate Shane Watson at No.6.

Despite striking 12 fours and maintaining his high strike-rate, Warner rarely took a silly risk to do so. He began quickly with three fours in the sixth over against Vernon Philander - an upper cut and a couple of pulls - although he nearly became overconfident and on the last ball of that over was fortunate to survive a leading edge that lobbed just over the head of cover.

Warner was strong when driving, cutting and pulling, and there seemed little South Africa could do to slow his progress as he rotated the strike throughout all his partnerships. He brought up his half-century from exactly 50 balls with a rare five, when he took a sharp single off Steyn and picked up four overthrows when Philander's throw ricocheted off the stumps and away to the boundary.

Graeme Smith had to settle for getting rid of Rogers and Doolan, both of whom made starts but failed to go on. Rogers looked solid in reaching 25 from 41 balls but Morkel got the better of Rogers as soon as he came on, with his extra bounce from around the wicket fizzing several balls past the outside edge. However, it was Steyn who made the breakthrough in the first over of his second spell when he drew an edge to first slip.

Doolan took some time to get off the mark but by lunch had struck a couple of crisp boundaries, although after the break he fell in a familiar fashion when on 20 he skied a pull and was caught at mid-on off Philander's bowling. One wicket in each session meant the day so far belonged to Australia, although in reality it mostly belonged to Warner.

Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-australia-2013-14/content/story/724119.html