Key events
103rd over: South Africa 325-7 (Bavuma 129, Harmer 33) Seven runs off that Boland over, all run. A three that was dinked off the pads by Harmer to go along with a clipped two from Bavuma and a pair of singles. This partnership is now wroth 83. Some fightback from the Saffas.
102nd over: South Africa 318-7 (Bavuma 125, Harmer 30) A maiden from Starc, round the wicket, looking to bang a length at Harmer, to start the session.
The players are back out. Do the South Africans look to press the accelerator and biff their way to a declaration? Of course a draw keeps the series alive for Cape Town, but they need a victory here if they want to win the whole thing.
And this is a pitch that has favoured the new ball. If Australia are two or three down before the close that could set things up nicely.
But that’ll all come out in the wash. Starc to get us going again.
ShareTea! South Africa 318-7 (Bavuma 125, Harmer 30)
An eventful last over before the break. Carey thought he’d pulled off a stunning leg side stumping to dislodge Bavuma off the bowling of Webster, but the SA captain’s back foot shot back down before the bails were removed.
Excellence from Bavuma who has been well supported by a swashbuckling Jansen and a resolute Harmer.
Back after the break.
100th over: South Africa 318-7 (Bavuma 125, Harmer 30) Another drag down from Hazlewood, another crunching pull from Harmer who climbs into this tame half-tracker and hits it well in front of the sweeper square of the wicket. Lovely shot. The Aussies look flat. This tea break can’t come soon enough.
99th over: South Africa 313-7 (Bavuma 124, Harmer 26) Less than 10 minutes to the tea break. These Saffas won’t want to lose their wicket now. Just the one run off that Webster over.
Steve Smith is receiving treatment on his finger. The camera has cut to him getting some heavy strapping. So the finger is not broken, or if it is he’s soldiering on.
98th over: South Africa 312-7 (Bavuma 123, Harmer 26) Hazlewood returns but he looks a shadow of what he was in Durban. His first ball back is a yuck half tracker that Harmer swats in front of square for four. A few balls later Bavuma is on strike and gets a thick edge that is dropped by Smith! It was a tough chance that dropped in front of him, but that is definitely a drop and he’s off the park as his finger needs attention. Could be bad news for him when he has to bat!
97th over: South Africa 306-7 (Bavuma 122, Harmer 21) Webster over pitches and Bavuma leans forward and plays a textbook perfect on drive. Phew, that should come with a parental warning sticker. That stroke also brings up the 300, a milestone that looked incomprehensible at the start of the day. But Bavuma’s not done. Another half volley, this one on his pads, is clipped through midwicket for four more.
96th over: South Africa 298-7 (Bavuma 114, Harmer 21) Cummins has found some extra zip. Perhaps a consequence of his frustrations that this South African lower order has produced the goods. His first ball is a sharp bouncer that lifts off a tricky length and has Bavuma leaping and fending without any control. Then he hits the back of Harmer’s helmet; the batter ducking and turning his head away at the last second. The four leg-byes will only irritate the Aussie skipper. After some attention from the physio, Harmer flicks Cummins through midwicket for four more. That’s a proper cricket shot and another productive over for the home side.
95th over: South Africa 289-7 (Bavuma 113, Harmer 17) A tidy over from Webster who could have had the wicket of Bavuma, if only the thick inside edge onto the back thigh was held by Carey up to the stumps. Webster thought it was lbw, and they burned a review finding out. A single to Bavuma means he’ll be on strike for the next set. Starting to wonder now what the plan is for the home side. Just bat to tea and have a think?
They’re reviewing for lbw against Bavuma. They don’t look confident. Carey, up to the stumps, isn’t sure. But worth a punt I guess, especially as Webster was certain.
Ooooh, unless there’s an inside edge this could be close.
But there is a thick inside edge. Which means, that is technically a dropped catch from Carey! But it was a half chance at best.
94th over: South Africa 288-7 (Bavuma 112, Harmer 17) Maiden from Cummins to Harmer. I wonder if this little period raises the case for Lyon’s selection. Webster, Renshaw and Maddinson have been used as support acts, but with Hazlewood unwell (which of course they couldn’t have planned for) the lack of a proper spinner has been telling. Just a thought.
93rd over: South Africa 288-7 (Bavuma 112, Harmer 17) Big Beau Webster into the attack – SA won’t mind that – and his first delivery is a tame throw down that Bavuma leans into and drives for four through the covers. When Webster drags his length back a touch there is some movement off the pitch. Another thing the South Africans, especially their bowlers, won’t mind.
92nd over: South Africa 284-7 (Bavuma 108, Harmer 17) A flick through midwicket adds two more to Bavuma’s tally. Cummins dangles a couple of tempters outside the off stump that Bavuma lets go, bringing a smile to Cummins’ face. Cummins closes the set by going wide of the crease to create a new angle, but a thick inside edge sees it bobble down to fine leg for a single.
91st over: South Africa 281-7 (Bavuma 105, Harmer 17) Hazlewood finds the thick edge of Harmer’s prodding bat with a back of a length banger, but it flies between second and fourth slip and trickles away for four. You want to scream as a bowler when that happens. This eighth wicket stand now worth 39.
90th over: South Africa 276-7 (Bavuma 104, Harmer 13) After bringing up his hundred with a mighty pull for four, Bavuma drops and runs to get back up the other end and reflect on what he’s achieved. Cummins sorts his length to Harmer and almost bowls him with a nip-backer as the batter shouldered arms. Question now is what happens next? SA need 20 wickets to win this match and we are halfway through day three. Do they go ballistic now? We wait and see.
Share100 up for Bavuma!
The skipper has done it! He rocks back and pulls Cummins for four with authority. His fifth in Test cricket and his first against Australia. It has been nothing short of sensational. He came in with his side on 12-2 and then watched as they collapsed to 40-4. Through the cold and drizzle across the first two days, through the blistering spells of Boland and Starc, South Africa’s captain has endured and fought back. Brilliant. Simply brilliant. One of the all time knocks by a SA skipper that I can remember.
89th over: South Africa 271-7 (Bavuma 99, Harmer 13) Harmer stands tall and punches Hazlewood for four through point. That’s a pretty good shot for a number 9. The rest of the over passes without incident which means Bavuma will be on strike. Change of bowler. Captain to captain as Cummins revs up.
88th over: South Africa 267-7 (Bavuma 99, Harmer 9) Heart in mouth stuff! Bavuma gets to 99 with a single and Harmer gives him back the strike. He has two balls to to get his hundred in this over. The first is an inside edge onto his pads. That could have gone anywhere! He also considers a run but the ball is right on his toes. The last ball is a bumper down the leg side. He swishes at it. Was there a glove? No. He survives. Oh my word. What must he be going through under that helmet?
Updated at 08.02 EDT
87th over: South Africa 264-7 (Bavuma 98, Harmer 7) Boland is on the money, probing Harmer’s fifth stump for five balls. His last delivery is a drag down bumper that doesn’t climn and Harmer unfurls a crunching pull shot. But it’s straight to the sweeper at backward square and they come through for a single. He’ll keep the strike.
86th over: South Africa 263-7 (Bavuma 98, Harmer 6) Bavuma steers Starc for four down to deep third with a lovely touch and then nudges off his pads for a couple – though a direct hit would have sent a diving Harmer at the non-striker’s end packing, prompting an apology and a wry smile from the skipper – to bring him that much closer to a ton. I’m going to avoid saying anything else about this innings, or in fact the over, for fear of putting the mockers on him.
And if he wasn’t on a knife’s edge, he’ll have to stay calm throughout this drinks break.
Share
Daniel Gallan
Cheers Geoff, and g’day everyone.
Yes indeed. Just a few thwacks from Temba’s blade will do it. He’s dealing in nurdled singles though. Can the rest of this SA line-up drag him there?
85th over: South Africa 256-7 (Bavuma 91, Harmer 5) Boland to Harmer, gives him a short ball as if to remind him that even those of more modest pace can do it too. I wouldn’t fancy being hit by a bouncer at 130 kph, I can tell you. Better than 140, but not much better. Fourth ball of the over, though, Harmer shows that he can bat, getting a bad ball on his pads and flicking it behind square for four.
That’s it for me today. Time to hand over to Daniel Gallan, who will be sharing tears of joy with you if Temba Bavuma can bring up Test century #5. That will make him the Lou Bega of Test centuries. Rrrrrrrup!
84th over: South Africa 251-7 (Bavuma 91, Harmer 1) Starc getting a touch of inswing to the right-handers, bowling over the wicket. Not bowling full enough to challenge Harmer’s pads though, he’s allowing Harmer to defend at navel height rather than shin. Then bumps him, and the new Kooka flies to the boundary for five wides. Way over Carey. And that ball does its job, which is to make Harmer nervous about getting forward to the next one, a tentative drive that beats the bat. Cummins and Starc think there’s a noise, in fact, from the scrambled seam ball. Carey is not intersted whatsoever, and he is vindicated, with a wasted review. Sub umpire Arno Jacobs gets it right, he’s standing in for the Gaffer, because Chris Gaffaney is off duty while sick again. He’s not had a good time in Gqeberha historically.
All that done, Harmer gets off the mark with a straight drive.
83rd over: South Africa 244-7 (Bavuma 90, Harmer 0) Boland does his thing, sitting just outside that off stump, having Harmer block away after Bavuma takes a run to point.
82nd over: South Africa 243-7 (Bavuma 89, Harmer 0) Starc really had fixed his radar issues for a while, but they’ve been back in this Test. Bowls one wildly wide of the off stump, just within the bounds of legality, then follows up with a jaffa that almost takes out Harmer’s off stump as the batter leaves. Not quite full enough.
81st over: South Africa 242-7 (Bavuma 88, Harmer 0) Now it’s up to Simon Harmer to support his skipper.
ShareWICKET! Jansen c Head b Boland 85, South Africa 242-7
Out, courtesy of a hit to the balls. Just about, anyway. There’s a long delay after the first delivery with the new ball, because Boland does a Godzilla stomp onto Marco Jansen’s box. Smashed the top of his personal off stump. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player demonstrate more pain from a box shot. Jansen drops his bat, collapses to the ground, then starts crawling along it, like someone in a horror movie after they’ve tripped over. Rolls around a bit more. He’s in agony. It takes a long, long time to get him to his feet, then a longer pep talk from the physio to get him ready to resume. Not much more a physio can do in that scenario. But Jansen is nervy. After that long break, he hangs back to face the second ball and pokes at it. Then flicks the third ball in the air. Makes good contact but I don’t think his balance is there, his footwork. He’s hampered, whether principally in body or in mind. So he hits aerially, and Travis Head at midwicket jumps to his left, both feet off the ground, and takes the catch as though he’s midway through gambolling across a spring meadow.
That’s five for Boland, 5 for 57.
80th over: South Africa 242-6 (Bavuma 88, Jansen 85) Farewell, old ball, we scarcely knew thee. Webster does well with it, beats Bavuma’s edge at one stage, but he’ll be straight back to the margins unless they get another 30 overs.
79th over: South Africa 241-6 (Bavuma 88, Jansen 84) Gangling down to drive, like a praying mantis on her way to munch the skull of her boyfriend, Jansen pounces at Maddinson but can’t quite gobble him up, inside edge past the stumps for two rather than hitting straight. I don’t think he was looking to launch that, just wanting to get to the pitch in order to go along the ground.
Does have a big swing later in the over, though! Fine nick off the inside edge, takes the ball just past leg stump. He was gone for all money there, Jansen, had cleared the path to the pegs and was about be bowled middle stump as he edged that.
Forget what I said about him putting his shots away. Four runs.
Updated at 07.10 EDT
78th over: South Africa 232-6 (Bavuma 87, Jansen 76) Now Hazlewood goes back on ice, Webster coming in. So Cummins will presumably start with Boland and Starc with the new ball, but wants he and Hazlewood to have a crack with it a few overs later. Funny how the scoring has dried up since lunch: did Bavuma and Shukri Conrad have a strategy chat with Jansen over the sandwiches? Jansen has put all his big shots away.
77th over: South Africa 230-6 (Bavuma 86, Jansen 75) Cummins takes a break, Maddinson replacing him, and Jansen gallops down and edges into his pad, on the bounce through to slip. A couple of singles in the over, the boundary gush has certainly stopped. Today, the new ball will either mean wickets or fours, you’d reckon.
76th over: South Africa 227-6 (Bavuma 84, Jansen 74) Hazlewood continues, gives some width, and slashed away by Bavuma! He’s confident with this old ball that there won’t be any sideways movement, so he can reach for it and open the blade, carving through deep third. Maybe Bavuma doesn’t want Jansen to catch him?
75th over: South Africa 222-6 (Bavuma 79, Jansen 74) Big Marco launches into another pull shot against Cummins, but this time the sweeper keeps him to one. A shorter bouncer makes the tall man duck: discretion, valour, and all that.
What’s the over-under on when Jansen’s score passes Bavuma’s? He was on track to do it about an hour before lunch, but has slowed the charge since reaching 50.
74th over: South Africa 220-6 (Bavuma 78, Jansen 73) It’s Hazlewood time! He’s finally allowed to bowl after having been off the field for hours yesterday. Strange to bring him on so soon ahead of the new ball, he could bowl four overs with the old one at this rate. One or two with the old ball to get into a groove used to be a thing, not sure about four, soaking up half of a spell. Starts ok, good bit of bounce.
73rd over: South Africa 218-6 (Bavuma 77, Jansen 72) Cummins to begin after the lunch break, and nothing dramatic happens in that first over. A leg bye and a single. South Africa batting time here, as much as scoring runs, is having an impact, because it’s reducing Australia’s chance of setting up a route to victory by running through the quickly first up.
We’re back!
Gervase Greene sends tribute from Sydney. “Pretty hard not to like Temba Bavuma. Comes in late and bats at 2-fer, 3-fer and then 4-fer, on a damp pitch doing a fair bit and Boland going ape… and still plays as steadily as you like, scoring freely still and even tonking one literally over the grandstand. As if it weren’t hard enough leading a team in an inherently fractious country, given a history still being worked through, he is quite remarkable. About two feet tall, but as wickets fell around him he stood up to a scary Starc, Baz Boland and Captain Planet as if he hadn’t a care in the world. Respect.”
“Last I saw Jansen bat against Aus he was at seven, and a candidate for the least technical batter I’d ever seen in that position – looks a marvellous eight though. Funny the gulf between a single place in the order.”
He was always too high at seven, Eamonn Maloney, he’s a ball-striker rather than a batter. He looks great when it works, and less good when he whacks one to a catcher in the deep too early in his stay, like he did in Durban. Many players like this in history. Now and then they make hundreds. He’s got a chance today. Shades of Mitchell Johnson in South Africa in 2009.
ShareLunch – South Africa fight back to 216 for 6
What an effort from Bavuma and Jansen, their partnership stands at 106. The session looked like it was only going one way when Wiaan Mulder was bounced out, so hostile was the bowling against a resolute player. But Jansen came out and played differently, in his style, and knocked the Aussies off balance with the ferocity of his counter. He got lucky a few times, certainly, but the power of his striking can’t be denied. At the other end, Bavuma didn’t need luck, he was just too good. The bowling wasn’t bad. Excellent quality of short bowling, some balls past the edge, with a lot less seam on offer. But now Australia will need the new ball to search for some lateral movement on a flattening pitch.
72nd over: South Africa 216-6 (Bavuma 76, Jansen 72) Webster is bowling his mediums, if you’re wondering. Bavuma happy to soak up the final over of the session.
“You know what, we should have picked Nathan Lyon…” goes one email. Rowan Sweeney, I do not believe that your hypothesis is supported by the data. Boland 4 for 57 out of 6 for 216.
71st over: South Africa 216-6 (Bavuma 76, Jansen 72) Maddinson now with left-arm spin. Something to break the concentration. Doesn’t look the worst, a bit of loop from around the wicket to the right-handers. One slip in place. The bowler gets away with a bit, given the imminent break. Bowl Jansen a low full toss normally, and he’d try to hit it into orbit.
70th over: South Africa 213-6 (Bavuma 74, Jansen 71) Finally, Webster gets a go. Batting seven, getting an over before lunch: they’re making him more of a bit-part player in this side than he needs to be. Bavuma’s masterful control of the innings continues, dropping a ball behind point for a run. It’s hard to remember a mistake that he’s made. Perhaps those two flirtations facing Starc. Jansen a run off the pads, Bavuma the same.
69th over: South Africa 210-6 (Bavuma 72, Jansen 70) Another quiet Renshaw over, three singles.
68th over: South Africa 207-6 (Bavuma 70, Jansen 69) Starc a good short ball, right on line, but Jansen sways back out of the way of that one, dropping his gloves from upper chest height. He’s only got so much restraint in him, though. Next ball is not as short, and Jansen clobbers it through midwicket for four! Breaks his bat, too. Cracks it, calls for a replacement.
Tom Barrington writes in. “Only able to follow the game on your OBO so maybe this is unfair, but have noticed on a few occasions you’ve mentioned Boland’s efforts in the field not being up to par. Combined with his minimal impact with the bat, do you think this may be another factor as to why he isn’t consistently in the side?”
Look, I don’t think he’s a bad fielder, he’s taken some excellent catches in the past, good hands, just not the most mobile, not fast off the mark. Like, it would be fair to say he’s the 11th-best fielder in this team, that’s why he’s at fine leg whenever possible, but that doesn’t mean he’s not good given international standards. Today he got in one tangle on the rope, and then didn’t get to a chance that a gun fielder might (might!) have got closer to. He’s not had a shocker.