Forty runs ahead. Six wickets left. Plenty of work to do.
That is where the Proteas find themselves after the third day of the final Test at Newlands. At 140/4 in their second innings, South Africa remain in the contest, but Australia will be the happier side heading into day four. Every wicket now takes a bite out of the target the hosts can set.
The morning offered some encouragement. Australia resumed on 330/4, with Josh Inglis and Alex Carey already having made life difficult for the South African attack. Inglis completed his hundred before falling for 102, while Carey contributed 80. Simon Harmer removed both, finishing with 4/104 as Australia were eventually dismissed for 429. Marco Jansen added 3/60.
Those wickets mattered. Australia had threatened to stretch the game much further away, and the Proteas deserve credit for keeping the first-innings deficit to 100. Still, recovering that ground against this bowling attack was always going to demand patience.
The reply needed a solid start. Instead, Aiden Markram departed for one and David Bedingham for 11, leaving South Africa 31/2. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood had put the pressure straight back on the home dressing room.
Marques Ackerman gave the innings some energy. His 62 from 80 balls included eight boundaries, and his willingness to score was valuable in a situation where simply surviving could easily have become the only thought. Temba Bavuma supplied the patience alongside him. Together, they gave South Africa a route back into the match.
But partnerships need to become bigger partnerships in a deciding Test.
Starc ended Ackerman’s innings, and Nathan Lyon bowled Bavuma for 35 shortly before stumps. Losing the captain that late was a painful finish to a day in which South Africa had worked hard to stay close.
For me, that is the frustration. There has been enough resistance to keep hope alive, but Australia have found the breakthroughs whenever South Africa have begun to settle.
Matthew Breetzke, unbeaten on 19, and Ryan Rickelton, on eight, now carry the immediate responsibility. The first job tomorrow is to get through the opening spell together. Then they need to turn that time into runs.
A difficult fourth-innings chase is still possible, but the Proteas must give their bowlers something to defend.
Australia have earned the advantage. South Africa’s challenge is to make them work much harder before this Test is done.
Author: swoosh0018
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