Do-or-die duo blaze the way on bowler-dominated day

It's not only the statistical quirk of going to the wicket with their respective teams in dire strife, having lost a brace of wickets for the addition of just 27 runs, that unites South Africa keeper Kyle Verreynne and Australia's Travis Head.

There's also the reality that both are in the comparatively early stages of Test cricket careers – Verreynne is in his 12th match for the Proteas having taken the gloves following the sudden retirement of Quinton de Kock, while Head's 31-match tenure has included several omissions along the way.

But the most obvious symmetry is their approach to batting, with a game plan built around a desire to push the score along regardless of the circumstances in which they find themselves, as was obvious at the Gabba today where they stood head and shoulders above other batters.

Verreynne's 64 from 96 balls was the only score above 40 in the Proteas' first innings of 152, as their top-order failed to come to grips with Australia's pace attack having been sent into bat and their lower-order then crumbled in the face of Nathan Lyon's spin.

Head's contribution was even more emphatic, blasting an unbeaten 78 off 77 balls in the face of some genuinely fast bowling from South Africa's heavy artillery this evening as his 117-run fourth-wicket stand with Steve Smith swung the bowler-dominated day marginally in Australia's favour.

Despite the success of taking a free-scoring mindset to day one when runs were hewn with graft by others who came and went with minimal returns for their toil, Verreynne claimed it wasn't necessarily the sort of pitch on which a do-or-die approach was the fast-track to success.

"I don't think you had to take that approach, but it's definitely an approach on this wicket that seems to have worked for the two of us," he told reporters at day's end with Australia 5-145 and just seven runs in deficit.

"Steve Smith also batted really nicely, and he looked to take his time and set the game up.

"So that's not necessarily a specific approach you need to take on this wicket.

"I feel like both myself and Travis are both quite positive-approaching players, and that just worked today.

"But I think it's a really good batting wicket and normal game plans should be good."

Prior to the first NRMA Insurance Test starting today, ex-Proteas batter Jonty Rhodes had presciently predicted that Verreynne loomed as a potential trump card for South Africa because of his preparedness to play his shots regardless of the game situation.

"He takes the game forward, and he's brave enough and maybe with a bit of youth on his side – he's never been here before, and never played against Australia – he plays with a lot more freedom than quite a few of the other guys," Rhodes said.

"A bit like (former keeper Quinton) de Kock, he's a bit more fluid in his batting and he can win you sessions."

That enterprise is reflected in the 25-year-old's 63-match first-class record that shows a batting average of 51 and a strike rate of 60 per 100 balls faced, with a high score of 216 not out.

It's that body of earlier work that gave Verreynne the belief to stick to his method in his maiden Test against Australia today, despite South Africa's innings hanging in the balance at 4-27 when he joined Temba Bavuma at the middle immediately after the day's first drinks break.

"Fortunately, I've played a decent amount of first-class cricket and I bat a bit higher up the order domestically, so I've been in similar situations in the past and been reasonably successful in those situations," Verreynne said having put together a 98-run fifth-wicket stand with Bavuma.

"So while it's a bigger stage and you're playing international cricket, you always have that reference point of having done it previously for your domestic side.

"So I just take confidence from that and stick to the approaches that I took, and fortunately today it went okay-ish."

Head can boast vastly greater experience at both domestic and international level, as well as leadership credentials having been elevated to the captaincy of South Australia as a 21-year-old, but it's only a year since he won a recall to the Test outfit as a replacement for Matthew Wade.

If ever there was a game situation in which he might throttle back and take a more cautious approach it was this evening when Australia slumped to 3-27 in the wake of incisive strikes from Proteas pace trio Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Anrich Nortje.

However, the 28-year-old – player of the series in last year's Ashes campaign on the back of audacious centuries in the first and last Tests – took the attack to his tormentors almost from the moment he took guard.

The left-hander survived a nervous moment on two when he edged Nortje to Dean Elgar at second slip, but after a video review it was decreed the ball had bounced before the South Africa skipper clutched it in both hands.

He then took on the role of senior partner in his union with Smith, racing to 63 (off 62 balls) compared to the former captain's 34 (off 53) in the pair's 100-run partnership and having reached his half century with an imperious flick for six over backward square leg.

"Travis Head was absolutely exceptional to go out there and play his game, and with a lot of courage," Lyon said tonight.

And while Verreynne cited his previous first-class results as a basis of the confidence he took to the centre today, Head could call on his past two Tests in recent weeks where he scored 99, 175 and 38 not out against a demonstrably more pedestrian West Indies attack.

He is also now ranked among the top 10 Test batters in world cricket, and is enjoying his most productive run of international form since making his Test debut against Pakistan in the UAE five years ago.

"It's a sign of where he's at," Head's teammate Mitchell Starc told cricket.com.au this evening.

"He's willing to take the game on - he trusts his shots, he trusts his game and he's being rewarded for that.

"To come out and take the game on against a really good attack was phenomenal for us.

"That partnership with Smith is a lot of the reason we're only seven runs behind at stumps and for the first two and a half Tests of this summer, he's been phenomenal."

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v South Africa

Dec 17-21: First Test, Gabba, 11.20am AEDT

Dec 26-30: Second Test, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Jan 4-8: Third Test, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Eree, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo

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