Whatever happens over the final three days of this engrossing series, change is looming for Australia's top order. Quite how much and how quickly remains uncertain but the second day in Cape Town, which was among Australia's more controlled run-scoring displays in the last two years, was a glimpse into the future.
This Test is the first time since 2011, coincidently also at Newlands in the game where Australia were bowled out for 47, that they have not had David Warner, Usman Khawaja or Steven Smith. Three of their dominant displays on a sun-drenched second day came from Josh Inglis, who hadn't played a first-class game since March, Cameron Green who hadn't batted for a month and Matt Renshaw still fresh back into the format. In next is Cooper Connolly, playing just his second Test.
However, it is hard to see, barring a final innings resurrection in this match, that the immediate future, at least, will involve Marnus Labuschagne. He had not looked right in the build-up to this Test, lacking his usual enthusiasm at training two days before and not even coming to the ground on the eve of the game.
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When he came to the crease on the second morning, he prodded and poked at four balls from Simon Harmer before edging a delivery to slip, playing back when he should have been forward. He might have one innings left. The next candidates for No. 3 are probably not in South Africa, but two players who are central to the next phase of Australia batting set about the rebuilding after 58 without loss had become 58 for 2.
While there is no suggestion that Smith's difficult tour of South Africa will herald a sudden end to his Test career, the likely succession plan is on display. The original spot for Green as he returned from injury for this Test was to slot in at No. 5, but that became one place higher when Smith decided he couldn't play because of his neck injury.
Before the Test, Green reiterated his preferred position was either No. 4 or No. 5 having been shuffled around the order from as high as three to as low as eight from the middle of last year to the end of the Ashes in January. Against Bangladesh in August he impressed at No. 5 and despite his layoff with an abdominal strain he made it three fifty-plus scores in a row, a promising sign for a player who has sometimes struggled without time in the middle.
It wasn't free of some uneasy moments - he edged just short of Simon Harmer at second slip on 22 against Gerald Coetzee - and was struck blows by the short ball from Coetzee and Marco Jansen. There was also an engaging contest with Kagiso Rabada when, having opted to duck or wear the short ball, he suddenly took it on with consecutive pulled sixes, the second just clearing Marques Ackerman at deep square leg, then putting away another through midwicket. It was enough for Renshaw to have a little word.
"I just asked him if he was all good, and he did hit 16 off three balls, so he got the run rate up a bit," Renshaw said. "[I was] just sort of seeing how he was going, seeing whether that was in his plans, whether that's what he wanted. It was more just sort of keeping that tempo, keeping the calmness out there … if you hit a few boundaries in a row, you get a bit giddy, so it's just about calming him down, and sort of getting him to think about the process."
The pair added 126, Australia's first century stand for the third wicket since Galle in January 2025 between Smith and Khawaja. Renshaw had defined the opening Test in Durban with 272 runs in the match from No. 5, but Nic Maddinson's omission and Green's return saw him elevated back to the opening position he held when he returned to the Test side against Bangladesh in Mackay.
Given the resources Australia have, it feels like his slot to hold although Sam Konstas' form may have a say in that before the New Zealand series in December, and there's a chance Renshaw's ability against spin sees him back in the middle order in India. Still, it has been a series to consolidate Renshaw's return to Test cricket.
"I came here thinking that I was going to open the batting for three Tests," he said. "I had a little bit of a sleep in at five, and now coming back to opening was just trying to be really positive and trusting that the stuff I did in the first two Tests could relate to opening the batting."
However, the box tick of converting into three figures eluded both of them. Renshaw had not scored a run against six deliveries logged as short by Cricinfo when he tried to upper cut Jansen and glanced the ball off the face. In Jansen's next over, Green's tendency to push away from his body brought his downfall when he edged to Harmer in a lone slip position: 184 for 2 had become 185 for 4. The game was back in the balance.
Inglis was given barely half an hour's notice that he was playing this Test when Smith's neck injury ruled him out. Whether he is part of the first-choice future of Australia's batting remains to be seen, but they would likely have been in significant trouble without his crisp innings which had skipped along to 85 off 111 balls at the close.
How different things could have been had Alex Carey been run out on 3, when the pair had a misunderstanding over a quick single, will never be known but if the throw from Ackerman had hit the score would have been 195 for 5.
Instead, in an unbroken stand of 145, they moved into the lead off the penultimate ball of the day. From the moment South Africa had cantered to 158 without loss, Australia are now in control. In the nick of time they have produced the type of batting display that has been missing. The third day will show whether they have the ruthlessness to really make it count.