JOHANNESBURG, April (ANA) – South Africa had to overcome stubborn Australian resistance as they ground out a 401-run lead as they reached 134/3 by the close of play on day three of the final Test at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.
The Proteas first ran into opposition from the overnight batting pair, captain Tim Paine and Pat Cummins, who put on 99 for the seventh wicket before the last three wickets fell relatively quickly to give the home side a huge lead of 267 runs on the first innings.
Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and Keshav Maharaj finished with three wickets each but there was the real concern of Morne Morkel leaving the field with a recurrence of the injury he suffered in the Bangladesh series which no doubt influenced Faf du Plessis’ decision not to enforce the follow-on.
One of the highlights of the day’s play was the swallow dive catch of Dean Elgar to take the wicket of Paine, the last man out, for top score of 62 (96 balls, 7 fours and 2 sixes).
Elgar was quickly back in the picture when he and Aiden Markram shared the second 50 partnership of the match before the latter was out, having achieved the outstanding aggregate of 480 runs for the series. He also posted his 1 000th run in Test cricket in only his 10th match.
The day’s play produced only 245 runs for the loss of seven wickets as the Proteas extended their overall lead to 325 by the tea interval and beyond the 400-mark by the close of play.
South Africa will have been pleased to see their captain back in some sort of form as he and Elgar reached the close after an unbroken partnership of 40, leaving their side in a very strong position with seven wickets still in hand.
Cummins remains the talisman of the Australian attack with two of the three wickets to fall so far, giving him seven in the match.
- African News Agency (ANA)
