South Africa's Jacques Kallis took two wickets then limped off with a suspected hamstring injury during an eventful opening session of the first Test against Australia.

Kallis broke the hosts' resistance at the Adelaide Oval in the sixth over, taking a simple catch to dismiss Ed Cowan (10), who had been unable to deal with the all-rounder's devastating yorker.

Rob Quiney followed in the the next over, caught by Steven Smith for a duck off the bowling of Morne Morkel.

Another stunning Kallis yorker brought Ricky Ponting's brief innings of four runs to an end in the eighth over.

At that point the Aussies were 55/3, however David Warner steadied the ship with an unbeaten knock of 67 from 79 balls to help his side reach 102/3 at lunch.

Michael Clarke (18) remains at the crease with Warner.