Day Two: Historical Renshaw ton sees Australia in command

After a top order collapse on day one, Australia are back in command in South Africa, courtesy of a historical ton from Matthew Renshaw.

Entering day two, the Aussies had it all to do. Sat at 6/187, issues at the top of the order were once again at the fore, with Nic Maddinson falling to a 33-ball duck in his first red ball outing in over 18 months.

Matthew Renshaw stepped in at five and steadied the ship to close out day one, and 3567 days after his first Test hundred, Renshaw closed out day two with a century for the ages, dragging Australia out of peril and into a commanding lead.

Working masterfully with the lower order, Renshaw expertly navigated his way to 190 (397) against a South African attack that looked all too good on day one.

Pat Cummins (43 off 98) and Nathan Lyon (27 off 92) contributed superbly, forming exceptional partnerships with Renshaw to leave the Aussies all out for 390 and in command in Durban.

SEN Cricket's Bharat Sundaresan believes Renshaw's ton could be one of the nation's most significant.

"Career-defining innings for Matt Renshaw, but I think it will go down as one of the more significant Test hundreds this century by an Australian batter," Sundaresan said.

"When you put into context where we sit... 18 Test matches to come after this, Matt Renshaw - right here - he found out that he is not going to open the batting but he will bat at number five the day before the Test.

"Walks out to bat, score's 4/84 and from there, to bat the way he did... old school, classical Test batting. South Africa threw everything at him.

"Incredible contributions from Pat Cummins - faced 98 balls. Nathan Lyon faced 92 balls. They batted for nearly a three quarters of the day and they kept South Africa in the field.

"Matt Renshaw eventually opened up as well, started playing a lot of shots. From the ramp, all sorts of sweeps, showed his entire repertoire.

"It was lovely to see that he led not just the Australians off the field, but the South Africans too. It was the Matt Renshaw show."

Former Test opener Simon Katich was also full of praise for Renshaw's historical knock.

"What I've liked is his composure," he told SEN Cricket.

"You start a series with a big score, it just puts to bed any question around your spot in the team.

"He would have been thinking that he's got to make the most of this opportunity. There's a number of players in this team going through that.

"He has put that to bed."

Australia capped off their superb batting performance with a wicket, with Josh Hazlewood finding the edge of opener Ryan Rickelton in the second over before bad lighting called time on day two.

South Africa will commence day three at 27-1.