Steve Smith supplied the defining moments of the first Test in Durban, holding catches at slip that left South Africa's batters shaking their heads. Australia, as it so often does against this opponent, found another gear in the game's biggest situations and cashed in. The hosts' batting fought in patches but kept handing back its gains, and the scoreline at stumps told that story plainly. Even with that control, the visitors' sharpest worry could be the calendar rather than the opposition. Lost overs in a Test rarely come back, and every idle hour pushes a result further out of reach. Smith's feats will be replayed for months, yet both camps understand that skill matters little once the weather takes over. South Africa's task now is blunt: long spells with ball and bat, because the Australians rarely let a chance like this slip.