Australia vs South Africa, 1st Test, Day 1: As it happened...

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first.

Courtesy: Twitter (@cricket.com.au)

New Delhi: Coverage of the 1st Test between hosts Australia and South Africa at WACA.

AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS

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STUMPS! Australia take the session and the first day with impressive performance from both bat and. For South Africa, the only thing they won today was the toss. It will be impressive to see the the Proteas fight back on Day 2. At close today it's 105/0.

OVER 20 | SCORE 93/0 (Warner 61*, Marsh 29*)

Australia cruising in this early phase, as an unafraid David Warner continues to play his strokes. Pace prodigy Rabada brought into the attack inside 10 overs. Will he be able to shackle the Aussies?

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OVER 10 | SCORE 46/0 (Warner 35*, Marsh 9*)

Australia cruising in this early phase, as an unafraid David Warner continues to play his strokes. Pace prodigy Rabada brought into the attack inside 10 overs. Will he be able to shackle the Aussies?

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OVER 5 | SCORE 18/0 (Warner 17*, Marsh 0*)

5 overs gone and Shaun Marsh hasn't yet opened his account. He is constantly being tested by South African seamers, especially Dale Steyn. Thrilling action being displayed with the ball at WACA.

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SOUTH AFRICA 1ST INNINGS

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OVER 63.4 | SCORE 242/10 (Rabada 11*)

Starc delivers South Africa the final blow. Bowls out Steyn to claim his 4th wicket of the day. Good fight back from the Proteas to reach 242 after being 32/4 at one stage.

DW Steyn b Starc 4 (4b)

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OVER 61 | SCORE 227/9 (Rabada 0*, Steyn 0*)

Aussies 1 wicket away from taking over the bat from South Africa. Mitchell Starc continues his spell hoping to wrap-up the Proteas tail quickly.

Q de Kock c SE Marsh b Hazlewood 84 (101b)

KA Maharaj c Warner b Lyon 16 (19b)

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OVER 53.3 | SCORE 175/7 (De Kock 47*)

Play halts for Tea as Mitchell Starc removes Vernon Philander. That's third of the day for Starc who sometimes has looked absolutely unplayable.

VD Philander b Starc 10 (32b )

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OVER 50 | SCORE 168/6 (De Kock 47*, Philander 9*)

50 overs gone and South Africa have lost heir top-scorer, Bavuma. Nathan Lyon with his first wicket of the match as Shaun Marsh picks up a scintillating catch.

That's a brilliant catch by Shaun Marsh! Nathan Lyon breaks the 71-run stand between Bavuma and de Kock! #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/x8o6BDgrU4 — CricWizz (@CricWizz) November 3, 2016

T Bavuma c SE Marsh b Lyon 51 (86b)

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OVER 40 | SCORE 132/5 (Bavuma 40*, De Kock 31*)

Bavuma-De Kock partnership worth 51 runs from 72 balls as the latter begins his innings on a rather ODI style. The visitors can't afford another wicket, need this partnership to stay for long.

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OVER 30 | SCORE 87/5 (Bavuma 25*, De Kock 1*)

Skipper Faf du Plesis shown the way to pavillion by Mitchell Starc. Terrific bowling from the Aussies who look set to wrap-up the South Africans before Tea.

Faf du Plessis c Voges b Starc 37 (74b)

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OVER 26 | SCORE 78/4 (Du Plesis 37*, Bavuma 17*)

A hugely impressive session for Australia who pick up 4 wickets. Du Plesis - Bavuma look to have settled after early morning blues. It's LUNCH at WACA.

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OVER 20 | SCORE 57/4 (Du Plesis 26*, Bavuma 7*)

Better from the South Africans. Du Plesis seems to have got a hold on the situation. Need a strong partnership from here.

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OVER 15 | SCORE 38/4 (Du Plesis 9*, Bavuma 6*)

JP Duminy falls to Peter Siddle caught behind. Immediate review taken by Duminy but hotspot proved that it was rather a bat-pad. Big trouble for South Africa.

JP Duminy c Nevill b Siddle 11 (23b​)

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OVER 10 | SCORE 27/3 (Duminy 11*, Du Plesis 4*)

Catastrophic start for South Africa to lose 3 wickets in the first 10 overs. Captain Faf du Plesis joins JP Duminy in the middle hoping to revive his side from the disaster. Stephen Cook and Hashim Amla went back for ducks.

D Elgar c Nevill b Hazlewood 12 (22b)

HM Amla c Smith b Hazlewood 0 (5b)

SC Cook c MR Marsh b Starc 0 (4b​)

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South African captain Faf Du Plesis won the toss and decided to bat first. Announcing their squad for the match the Proteas rose a few eyebrows by naming the uncapped spinner Keshav Maharaj in the final XI. He’s a left arm orthodox, and is yet to ODI cricket.

The visitors have gone in with four quickies. Morne Morkel, who was under an injury cloud, will be missing this one.

AUS: David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Adam Voges, Mitch Marsh, Peter Nevil, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon

SA: Stephen Cook, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis (capt), Temba Bavuma, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj

Here's how the pitch looks like on this bright Thursday morning in WACA:-

Toss in halfa. Thoughts? #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/1jOs8uVh2G — cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) November 3, 2016

"It looks good, I`m a bit surprised it looks a bit dry," said Du Plessis about the pitch.

"We`ve gone with a spinner and obviously batting first, hopefully on the last day there`ll be some spin involved.

"We`ve got three seamers, that`s been our attack for the last few years."

Du Plessis said experienced seamer Morne Morkel had missed out to allow him a bit more time to recover from the back injury that has hampered him this year.

"Morne is coming off injury so he`s probably 90, 95 percent but bowling long spells is still a bit of a concern and I think spin will be good on this surface," he added.

Australia captain Steve Smith announced his team on Wednesday with Peter Siddle getting the nod to complete the pace unit along with Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.

Smith, who has led the side to a 3-0 test defeat in Sri Lanka and a 5-0 ODI reverse in South Africa this year, said he would have batted first had he won the toss.

"It looks like a nice wicket so I hope there`s a little bit in it at the start," he said.

"We`re back here in Australia where we play our best cricket, we`ve had some success here at this ground and long may that continue."

South Africa have won on their last two test visits to the WACA in 2008 and 2012, both times going on to clinch the series as well.

(With Agency inputs)