Il Nuovo Postiglione - Australia struggle against South Africa's fast bowlers

Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder and Anrich Nortje each took two wickets while spinners Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer had no success.

Left-hander Matt Renshaw led Australian resistance with a gritty 46 not out. He and captain Pat Cummins enabled the tourists to recover from a precarious 124 for six.

Renshaw heeded his captain's call to fight through tough situations and "get better at the grind", absorbing 115 balls and hitting only three boundaries. Cummins backed him up, making an unbeaten 33 not out off 72 balls.

The pair added 63 runs for the seventh wicket -– the best partnership of the innings -- before a sharp bouncer from Nortje to Renshaw appeared to convince the umpires to take the players off the field 52 minutes after tea.

Left-armer Jansen took two for 35, Mulder claimed two for 31 and Nortje, playing in his first Test in more than three years, built up impressive pace and took two for 40.

Australia's Nic Maddinson made a less successful comeback.

Almost 10 years after the last of his previous three Tests, Maddinson opened the batting and never looked comfortable as he struggled for 49 minutes and 33 balls before being bowled off an inside edge by Jansen without scoring.

It was the longest innings without scoring by an Australian opener in Test history, and the third longest by any opener in Test cricket.

The most fluent batting of the day was in a third wicket stand of 60 between Marnus Labuschagne (37) and Steve Smith (25).

But Labuschagne was leg before wicket to Mulder off the last ball before lunch. Smith fell three balls after the interval, caught at gully off Jansen immediately after being struck a painful blow on the right hand by the tall fast bowler.

Nortje, South Africa's fastest bowler, struck twice in three balls to dismiss Alex Carey and Beau Webster before Renshaw and Cummins dug in.

A.Mariconda--INP