Sunday was meant to be the day the Proteas dug in and dragged this Test back to level. Instead, on SA v Australia day three, the crowd at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium watched batter after batter get set, get busy and get out. South Africa were bowled out for 284, and by the time bad light cut the day short yet again, Australia were 33 without loss and 139 runs to the good.
There was fight from the lower order, and it kept the match alive. But nobody in the top seven got past 49. In a Test match, that is the gap between setting the terms and chasing them.
How SA v Australia day three got away
The tourists had already won Saturday. Matt Renshaw’s 190, an innings that soaked up 397 deliveries, and a ninth-wicket stand of 134 alongside Nathan Lyon carried Australia to 390, in spite of four wickets for Wiaan Mulder and three for Marco Jansen. The hosts were 27/1 when the gloom arrived. For Friday’s opening exchanges, read our day-one report.
The morning started brightly enough. David Bedingham and Aiden Markram were positive, until Markram edged Mitchell Starc on 37. Temba Bavuma went for 3, caught at slip trying to reverse-sweep Lyon.
Bedingham looked the most settled batter of the day. Then, a single short of a half-century, he edged Pat Cummins and Steve Smith dived to hold it. His 49 came from 73 balls. SuperSport reported that Smith’s work at slip in this innings took him past Joe Root for the most outfield catches in Test cricket.
South Africa went to lunch on 115/4.
Cummins goes short
After the break, Tristan Stubbs and Mulder rebuilt patiently and put on 56 for the fifth wicket. Then Cummins turned to the bouncer, and it paid off twice in consecutive overs. Mulder, on 30, top-edged a pull to the substitute fielder Cooper Connolly. Stubbs, on 32, hooked an over later and found Josh Hazlewood at fine leg.
Kyle Verreynne was next, reverse-sweeping Lyon into Smith’s hands at slip, almost a copy of the captain’s dismissal. Jansen threw his bat for 26 from 20 balls, with six fours, before he lofted Hazlewood to Travis Head at mid-off.
Our view: four of those wickets came from attacking shots on a surface where Australia had just made 390. Some of it was Australian discipline. A good deal of it was self-inflicted.
The tail refuses to fold
By then the follow-on had been avoided, but a deficit is a deficit, and every run off the bat of the last three cut it down. Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer batted like the two most comfortable people in the ground. Maharaj made 34.
Harmer finished unbeaten on 35 from 75 balls, close to two hours of graft. Anrich Nortje kept him company for a while before he was caught by Smith off Beau Webster for 16, the last man out.
Cummins finished with 3/54, Hazlewood with 2/54, Lyon with 2/58 and Starc with 2/63. Not one South African reached fifty.
| Score | |
|---|---|
| Australia, first innings | 390 |
| South Africa, first innings | 284 |
| Australia, second innings, at stumps | 33/0 (5.4 overs) |
| Australia lead by | 139 |
Where it leaves the first Test
South Africa conceded a first-innings lead of 106. Australia then had 5.4 overs before the players were taken off for bad light, and Nic Maddinson made a quick start at the top. The lead is 139, with all ten second-innings wickets in hand and two days left.
What the Proteas need on Monday is simple to say and hard to do: early wickets, before the lead grows into a target nobody fancies chasing on a fifth-day pitch. If you want the bigger picture, the Proteas Test team page covers who is in the squad, and the first Test preview explains why this series carries so much weight.