Morkel takes five as Australia make 550

Lunch South Africa 0 for 3 (Petersen 3*, Smith 0*) trail Australia 550 (Clarke 230, Warner 119, Hussey 103, Morkel 5-146) by 547 runs

Morne Morkel bowled Michael Clarke for 230 © Getty Images

Morne Morkel's first five-wicket haul against Australia ensured South Africa didn't endure another long day in the field as the hosts were dismissed for 550 shortly before lunch on the second day in Adelaide. South Africa's openers had to face four overs before the break and they got through unscathed, heading to lunch on 0 for 3 with Graeme Smith yet to score and Alviro Petersen on 3.

A mountain of work was ahead for South Africa, especially given that their most prolific batsman, Jacques Kallis, could not come in above No.7 in the order having left the field with a hamstring injury on the first morning. However, the South Africans could at least take heart from the fact that twice in the past decade, a team has lost having posted a 550-plus total batting first at Adelaide Oval - something that outside Adelaide has only happened once in Test history.

The Australians added 68 to their overnight score for the loss of their last five wickets and the majority of their runs came from the No.9 James Pattinson, who played some impressive strokes in reaching his best first-class score of 42. He crunched Dale Steyn for a pair of boundaries through the off side and cleared the rope twice off Imran Tahir before he was the last man out, edging Steyn to Graeme Smith at slip.

The day had started on a positive note for South Africa when Morkel bowled Clarke, who added only six to his overnight score and was dismissed for 230. The rewards kept coming for the hard-working Morkel when he had Matthew Wade caught behind for 6, trying to drive a delivery that angled across him, and his five-wicket haul arrived when Ben Hilfenhaus hooked a short ball and was caught at fine leg for a duck.

Morkel's previous best in an innings against Australia was three wickets, and he finished up with 5 for 146 from 30 overs, his workload having increased significantly due to Kallis being unavailable. There was also a moment of relief and joy for Rory Kleinveldt, who claimed his first Test wicket when he had Peter Siddle caught at slip for 6. The umpire called for a replay to check that Kleinveldt, a serial no-baller, had not over-stepped, and by a matter of millimetres his wicket stood.

Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here

Feeds: Brydon Coverdale

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.