Kagiso Rabada (centre) took 7-170 in the match and has 36 wickets at 24 apiece in nine Tests
by BBC
Australia slipped to a fourth successive Test defeat as South Africa won the opening Test of their three-match series by 177 runs in Perth.
Set a notional 539, the hosts were bowled out for 361 shortly before tea on the final day thanks to 21-year-old pace bowler Kagiso Rabada’s 5-92.
Usman Khawaja made 97 and Peter Nevill an unbeaten 60 for Australia, who lost 3-0 in Sri Lanka in August.
Victory was South Africa’s third in a row at the Waca, after 2008 and 2012.
It was completed without Dale Steyn, the world’s number two-ranked bowler who was ruled out of the series on Friday with a fractured shoulder.
Australia, 169-4 overnight, survived for 119 overs in total in the fourth innings on a pitch featuring large cracks.
However, their first-innings collapse proved costly, slipping from 158-1 to 244 all out in response to South Africa’s 242.
JP Duminy made 141 and Dean Elgar 127, putting on 250 for the third wicket in South Africa’s second-innings 540-8 declared.
The second Test in Hobart starts on Saturday and the final Test in Adelaide on 24 November.
Australia batsman Joe Burns will replace Shaun Marsh, who suffered a broken finger in Perth, for the second Test, while the uncapped Callum Ferguson has been added to the squad.
