That’s it for us from this series. Thanks for all of the emails, whether they got published or not – the feedback throughout really helps us keep our energy up. It was a belter of a series, between a couple of flawed teams that still include some brilliant performers.
Long live Test cricket. Don’t listen to the doomers or the self-described rationalists. Fight for things that are beautiful and weird and make us connect with what it means to be human. Sport is art, art is what tells us we’re alive.
Farewell for now.
Temba Bavuma goes over to his team to receive the series trophy, and they’re back to No1 in the world rankings as well. Confetti, photos, you know the deal. They’re a serious team these days.
Here’s our wires match report for the time being, not that you’ll need it if you’ve been reading the OBO. Our proper match report will be up… soon. When I’ve finished writing it. Because that’s what I have to go and do now.
Temba Bavuma begins in perplexing style while appreciating the Newlands crowd. “All five days, you were struggling to find empty bums on the seats.” Is he saying the crowd was full of… hmmm. Not medically comfortable, any rate. At least that implies they weren’t emptying themselves in the stadium.
He’s better on his team’s turnaround.
“We carried on with the momentum that we managed to get yesterday. There were honest conversations that we had yesterday, a lot of them were about the character of the team, and that coming out. So when the batters were able to do what they did… the bowlers had the confidence. The way Rabada started today, he got everything going, then we were able to keep a tight grip on things.”
“Second Test, first Test, you saw two quality sides coming up against each other, exploiting each other’s weakness. We at times found ourselves in awe of the Australians, so credit to Pat and his troops. A lot of it for us was that whole South African trait of resilience. We seem to play a lot better when we’re behind the game; I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
Pat Cummins: “It really ebbed and flowed didn’t it, after a really hot start.” He says they did well to bowl out SA on day one, did well to get ahead, and didn’t do well enough to let SA back in during the third innings, then botched the fourth.
“The trend of this game was once you got yourself in, there were runs to be scored there and you could face lots of balls. Within the first hour, the game was away from us. Just didn’t give ourselves a chance.”
ROAST THE BATTERS, PATRICK. He won’t.
“I think we’re a really good side. Tough opponents, away from home, it’s really difficult. We came here very hopeful and thought we were good enough to win, but we weren’t. We’ll have a couple of weeks to digest it, a couple of big series coming up, but we’re going back home, a place we obviously know well, but overall relatively happy with how we’re going.”
I really don’t think you can credibly claim that after all out 99 and all out 111. And if you are in fact relatively happy, you shouldn’t be.
Player of the series... Marco Jansen
That makes sense. Did a job with the bat on multiple occasions, as well as his primary work with the ball, and was excellent in the field a number of times, including important catches in this last innings.
Player of the match... Simon Harmer
That’s a close call! Rickelton saved the game with his century, and made 42 when they were in some strife in the first innings, plus five catches and a run out. Mulder wasn’t needed much with the ball, but his hundred was the one that took South Africa to a winning position after Rickelton was out.
But it’s nice to see bowlers get recognised, and Harmer took four important wickets in Australia’s first innings, including the double strike when Inglis and Carey were on the point of killing the game, and then backed it up with six more to win it. His first 10-wicket match in Test cricket. He’s now up to 83 wickets, should crack the ton soon.
A lot of questions in the inbox about Green, too.
Nick Inatey: “If Cummins needed to protect Green from Harmer, can he really be trusted to go on the India tour next year (at least in the top six)?”
John Rufus: “For Green to be afraid to face Harmer to the point where they stopped taking runs, is just abysmal.”
I will say, in a partial defence, I think that was pragmatism at work today. Green can play spin, he was really good in Sri Lanka a couple of years back, and did ok in India in 2023. His century there was on Route 1 at Ahmedabad, but still.
I think today they recognised that, for whatever reason, Harmer was a big threat against Green specifically, with the rough patch and men around the bat with the way Green lunges, and that Cummins is historically very vulnerable against Rabada, so they reasoned that the safest play was to have Green take the fast stuff and Cummins the slow stuff, to best apportion the batting. It means each player could concentrate on one job. As much as it’s disruptive for bowlers to change who they’re bowling to, it can be for batters to change who they’re facing. It worked, too, Cummins faced Harmer better than anyone else in the innings.
Green’s dismissal is another matter, though. That was the work of somebody who was done in his own head before he was done on the pitch.
As for Australia, what a dire performance with the bat two matches in a row. All out 99 in the previous Test, all out 111 here, both times with so much to play for. They’ve had batting problems for a long time, and have had their heads in the sand when it comes to selection. I’ll run through all of this in more detail in a postmortem column to go up in the next 24 hours, so I won’t go into chapter and verse here, but you know what I’m talking about.
Openers who aren’t openers and keep changing roles, a number three who can’t make a run, a number four who behaved erratically through the series and missed the last match, a keeper at six who offered far more at seven, and bit-part players at seven who’ve added nothing with either discipline.
You don’t deserve to win matches when you put together teams like that, and they haven’t done. Pressure to make some significant changes will be high.
South Africa win by 176 runs, and take the series 2-1
What a performance from this home side. Underclubbed, under-resourced, underprepared, no Test matches played for most of this year, none at home for two years. They looked it in the first Test, beaten badly, and they were in all sorts of trouble in the second. Then they got fired up and got their act together, coming back to win in Gqeberha, and laying a series of body blows on Australia here.
They are at the top of the world rankings, and they are a big step closer to the next World Test Championship final to defend their title. They looked a rabble last time they visited Australia a couple of years back, they had a sixth-string side go to New Zealand after that, and they were at risk of becoming a joke. Now this team is saying, to its own board and to the ICC, let us show what we can do. Let us play this game, this format, that suits us so well.
WICKET! Hazlewood b Harmer 0, Australia 111 all out
Absolutely no idea! Josh Hazlewood facing that ball looked like a man trying to read an IKEA manual. Squinted at it, prodded at it, but Harmer from around the wicket drifts the ball across the left-hander, from off to leg, has it pitch and then turn back past the bat to hit the off stump. A dreamy piece of off-spin bowling to put the final full stop on this series, and give Harmer 6 for 16.
57th over: Australia 111-9 (Lyon 33, Hazlewood 0) We’re past the schedule time for tea, but extending the session by half an hour given the chance that the match will end with more more wicket. That’s the stretch goal for this last pair: can they last until the break? That’s 25 minutes away. Lyon picks up a boundary from Markram, short and tugged around the corner, then a square drive is well stopped by Harmer at cover point.
56th over: Australia 107-9 (Lyon 29, Hazlewood 0) Remarkable figures of 5 for 16 for Harmer, the spinner who Australia allowed to bowl last on this pitch with their call at the toss. Hazlewood is the last man in, and survives his first two balls.
WICKET! Cummins lbw Harmer 11, Australia 107-9
It was always coming! It was in the wind, whispering between the telephone wires. Harmer comes around the wicket to Cummins, and the change of line disrupts the batter enough. Wonderful bowling, starting very wide, drifting it across far enough that it just pitches in line with the leg stump, and then it turns back enough that it will hit off stump, except the back leg is in the way. Cummins has faced 90 balls; it’s been brave. Now it’s over. And Harmer has five.
55th over: Australia 107-8 (Cummins 11, Lyon 29) Blocking, blocking, and eventually Lyon sees width from Markram and can’t help driving that through cover for two. He’s top scorer in his own right now, having passed Green’s score.
“I imagine that there will be some sympathy around the globe for Australia’s current plight,” writes Andrew Parker, fingers in keyboard and tongue in cheek. This pair are playing in a way that could be admired, it must be said. They’ve brought it down to 34 overs remaining.
54th over: Australia 105-8 (Cummins 11, Lyon 27) Cummins keeps battling. He’s trying to read the turn off the pitch at times, defending that, so even when Harmer rags one, Cummins gets bat to it. But one that turns less takes the outside edge, and that will be a risk throughout. This time Cummins survives it, and profits by two runs. This time.
53rd over: Australia 103-8 (Cummins 9, Lyon 27) So now Lyon is happy to buckle down again, blocking out an over from Markram. Dual spin in Cape Town.
52nd over: Australia 103-8 (Cummins 9, Lyon 27) Here’s Harmer back, brought on at an end where he can bowl to Lyon rather than Cummins. You can swee why, as Lyon immediately is drawn into a sweep. Compulsive on the hook to the quicks and the sweep to the slows, Lyon is a man who just can’t help playing across the line. This time he gets the shoulder of the bat, then it rolls up his arm to the shoulder of the body, and launch-ramps over fine leg for four runs. He ticks a single from the next ball, back foot shot, to turn over the strike and give Harmer back to Cummins. Touché, Bavuma.
In scant consolation, Australia have avoided being bowled out for under 100. In amusing trivia, Nathan Lyon has once again top-scored in a Test innings at Cape Town.
51st over: Australia 98-8 (Cummins 9, Lyon 22) Cummins, the spin absorber, soaks up another over of Markram. A little alarm with an inside edge that squirts past a close catcher on the leg side, but he’s still there.
50th over: Australia 98-8 (Cummins 9, Lyon 22) The wicket is coming, surely, surely. After driving a couple of runs through mid on, Lyon plays an impulsive uppercut against Rabada and lifting him over slip. Totally unnecessary shot for Australia’s purposes, that ball is short enough to just leave alone. Cummins should be telling him off. Don’t let Rabada in, should be the resolve. Pile furniture against the door like in a zombie movie. Lyon goes back to defence for the rest of the over.
49th over: Australia 92-8 (Cummins 9, Lyon 16) South Africa finally give Harmer a break, with Markram the understudy doing the matinee. He bowls some filth first up, short and sitting there guilelessly, and even the Great Stonewalling Cummins can’t help but hit that one, tugging it through leg for four. He’s faced 71 balls.
48th over: Australia 88-8 (Cummins 5, Lyon 16) Rabada to Lyon, who can’t help hooking, but misses the lot. Rabada wonders about an edge, but it wasn’t there. All middle from the third ball, however! Lyon punches him away through point for four. Nice shot, they need exactly 200 with 41 overs to go. Batting like this makes you wonder what might have happened had the actual batters done half of their job…
Lyon follows that up with a pull for two, then a push behind point for two. He’s doubled his score in this over.
“Just caught sight of the score,” writes James Brough. “Blimey. I would’ve narrowly backed SA, but I would’ve predicted something close with Jansen the main wicket taker. With regard to Harmer - when did someone last bowl 16 overs at less than half a run per over? Stunning figures.”
They have no interest in trying to score from Harmer, James, so he’s in a lovely spot where he can just bowl and bowl and bowl. Quite a few such analyses from bowlers in draws over the years.
47th over: Australia 80-8 (Cummins 5, Lyon 8) Cummins with six catchers swarming him now, seagulls waiting for a chip. Harmer keeps wheeling away, but Cummins goes up to 65 balls faced, stunning each ball down into the surface.
46th over: Australia 80-8 (Cummins 5, Lyon 8) Rabada to Lyon, and the Australian No10 teases the bowler all through the over. Lots of flirtation outside the off stump, the ball not exactly seaming but Lyon can’t play the right line. His hands are soft enough to edge one down and through the cordon gap for four, and the rest he makes no contact with at all. 80 for 8 with Lyon on 8. Lots of sideways infinity symbols. Australia have to bat for infinity, because things have gone so far sideways.
45th over: Australia 76-8 (Cummins 5, Lyon 4) A couple more off the bat for Cummins, working Harmer away behind square on the leg side. He’s not exactly looking to score, but sometimes the safest thing is to hit the ball away. Another ball loops off the pad over the leg slip, but no bat in that one.
44th over: Australia 74-8 (Cummins 3, Lyon 4) Rabada is back. Huge cheer! They want him to bowl at Cummins, who he has a suffocatingly good record against, but he gets to bowl at Lyon instead. Probably has a good record against him too. Lyon pulls him for four, though! Great shot, in control, along the ground, gaps abound with bat-pad catchers both sides of the wicket. Rabada started the over with an overstep, as well.
45 overs to go, and an irrelevant 214 runs short.
43rd over: Australia 69-8 (Cummins 3, Lyon 0) Harder work for Cummins now facing Harmer, who gets an inside edge that bounces clear for a couple of runs, then loops one in that turns towards the front pad, but is bouncing too high for an lbw. A look of furious determination on Cummins’ face as he tried to keep that out. He’s fighting. Raises a Half Cowan – he’s faced 53 balls now.
42nd over: Australia 67-8 (Cummins 1, Lyon 0) Big celebration for Extras! Four byes from Coetzee bouncing it over Rickelton, and the big Ex goes to 15, now the second leading run-scorer behind Green. Lyon survives the over.
41st over: Australia 63-8 (Cummins 1, Lyon 0) It’s a doomed endeavour, they’ve got 50 more overs to face, but Cummins has been commendable so far. He’s faced almost 50 balls by the end of this over, and defuses Harmer with apparent ease during these six, that simple big stride out and a block. Why didn’t Green that give that a shot?
That’s drinks.
Updated
40th over: Australia 63-8 (Cummins 1, Lyon 0) A run! A precious run. Huge Bronx from the crowd as Cummins drives Coetzee to cover and decides to take it. Then boos as Lyon hits aerially through midwicket and Cummins says no. He wants to face Harmer, is it? He’s done it well so far, to be fair.
Updated
39th over: Australia 62-8 (Cummins 0, Lyon 0) I don’t know how that ball got through Green. So many acres of pad and boot there, bat as well, and somehow it burrowed through a gap. Harmer finishes the over to Lyon, who plays the impulsive sweep first up, then gets his head right and defends.
Updated
WICKET! Green b Harmer 27, Australia 62-8
There it is! A masterstroke from Bavuma. I mean, it was a pretty obvious tactical move, but they still had to do it. Green was trying to avoid facing Harmer, didn’t fancy him with all of that rough outside the off stump, so Bavuma uses the Coetzee over to swing Harmer around to the other end. Green is anxious about it, wants to use his feet to get to the pitch of the ball and defend it from there, like he did well in Sri Lanka a couple of years ago. But that doesn’t help him. He gallops down to block, and can’t make contact anyway. The ball shreds out of the rough, flat and sharp turn, and hits his off stump. Sensational bowling. Game over over over, even though it all but was already.
38th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Ten overs without a run. Coetzee comes on to make Cummins face pace, but Cummins is immaculate, defending everything that he can’t leave.
37th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Jansen replaces Rabada, a little victory for Green there. You’d expect him to bomb Green from left-arm over the wicket, but he only bowls the once bouncer, and Green drops his gloves and spins away, holding his hands protectively to his chest like a kid holding a cake that he doesn’t want to share.
36th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Harmer to Cummins, whose whole approach is to get way out on the front foot to defend. Using his full reach.
“Is the average age of this Australian team now a factor in a really brutal grind of a test match like this one? As well as destroying the careers of an entire generation of young players?”
I think that’s on the hyperbolic side, David Hindle, about the young players. Any national team hopes to have players who are good enough that they keep being involved until well into their 30s. There aren’t a lot of really hard done by players, dominating state cricket and not getting a go. To the contrary, a bunch of pretty average players have had various shots in this team.
As for the effect on this day’s play, fatigue might influence bad shots or bad running decisions, but everyone had a night’s sleep and came into today fresh. Youth didn’t help Connolly decide not to boom a drive at a wide ball turning away from him.
35th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Rabada to Green, who carries on as was foretold. He doesn’t mind some long, slow batting, Green, in a way he’s probably quite enjoying being able to just play and not worry about how to score.
34th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Some repeated themes here. Cummins being hit outside the line and surviving appeals. Cummins squeezing defensive shots away but not taking singles. They’ve scored two runs from one shot in eight overs since lunch.
33rd over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Rabada to Green, who isn’t just dead-batting, he’s trying to keep his rhythm intact by driving the fuller balls. Finds the straight fielders though, doesn’t score. Seam movement seems to have dissipated now that the ball is older.
32nd over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Good over of defence from Cummins that doesn’t have many alarms for five of the balls, but the one that is alarming jumps at him, Harmer hitting the rough, and that’s explosive bounce as well as turn. That kind of misbehaviour will have an impact at some stage.
31st over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Rabada makes Green play at almost everything in that over, which the batter does comfortably enough except for one that goes past the edge.
30th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Harmer to Cummins, who copes with him ok through this over. No run taken when available, Green wants to face Rabada.
29th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Another lbw knocked back, this time Rabada bowling to Green, who is caught on the crease as the ball angles in. Rabada really likes it, he’s roaring, but it struck high, and Green is as tall as they come. Well, except for Jansen.
28th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) Pat Cummins batted for a long time in a futile resistance in the final Test the last time he toured here, Johannesburg 2018. That was in the first innings after the top order got blown away, but still. Can do that job, sometimes. I don’t anticipate it today, but he might dig into those memories. He defends through Harmer’s over, and SA waste a review on a ball that hits him outside the line without a true shot played.
27th over: Australia 62-7 (Green 27, Cummins 0) We’re back at it. One slip and a gully for Green facing Rabada, which is interesting. Stack the old cordon, Temba. Runs can’t hurt you now. Right on cue, Green nicks one through the cordon for two. Along the ground, but still.
“Hi Geoff, enjoying your coverage (and the Final Word) as always,” writes Tane Aikman – thank you. “Wonderful to see South Africa as a top test team again, after it was looking pretty dark for them not long ago. As a New Zealander, it’s going to be fascinating to see how Australia responds to this. Goodness knows what the Aussie batting order will be for our tour. I feel the faint, treacherous stirrings of hope...”
Don’t do it, Tane. You know what happens when New Zealand see Australia, no matter how bad that Australian team may be. Unless it’s 1985 and Richard Hadlee is about.
But yes, success for South Africa on the field does keep up the pressure on the rich boards to keep supporting Test cricket outside their own five-Test mutual satisfaction sessions.
“South Africa to nominate Marnus as the Aussie player of the series?” asks Peter Roy. I think he’s the South African player of the series…
Luke Judd writes in. “Of all the contentious calls the selectors have made, I don’t understand the Connolly selection at all. His first class record with the bat is modest at best, and with the ball is frankly poor, albeit small sample size for both. Webster was made to score runs for two shield seasons on the trot before he was brought in. Weatherald put together eighteen months where he was far and away the best bat outside the Australian XI. McSweeney had far more FC form to fall back on. Why have the selectors decided, on the basis of so little, that Connolly is one of the best eleven players in the country? It seems like a vibes call not dissimilar to England with Shoaib Bashir, which they also seem keen to prolong because walking it back is admitting it was wrong. Am I missing something here?”
You’re not missing much. He is a very good prospect with the bat, that much is true: made 90 on debut in a Shield final, which is not nothing, and has a slew of fifties in limited appearances. Plus that big ton in an ODI recently. I still don’t think that makes him a Test pick. They’re picking him based on seeing talent and wanting to back it. But the framing of him as an all-rounder is what makes least sense. You can see how much his teammates rate his bowling given that first Smith in Sri Lanka, and now Cummins here, barely used it.
Lunch - Australia 60 for 7, trailing by 228 runs
It’ll be a grim old chat over the soup and sandwiches for the Aussies. A disaster of a session. They’re going to be absolutely pelted by everyone with a passing interest in the sport. South Africa, though, this has been a historic couple of hours for this side. On the mat early in the series, lost that first Test in humiliating style, and they’re been fierce ever since.
WICKET! Starc c Ackerman b Harmer 0, Australia 60-7
26th over: Australia 60-7 (Green 25) Last ball of the over, last ball of the session now as well, and Harmer strikes again. Starc has played with some heart, declining runs and doing his best in defence, but a ball spearing in at his pads causes him concern, thrusting the bat at it while trying to get his feet out of the way. His ankle rolls slightly, he gets the full face of the bat onto the ball, and from there it thuds into his pad and up into the air. Short leg is waiting under it. Harmer has 3 for 5!
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25th over: Australia 59-6 (Green 25, Starc 0) If indeed Green is avoiding spin, then South Africa make sure he has to face some. Markram comes on for a bowl. Green drives two runs powerfully to deep cover, then is happy to take a single. So maybe the issue was about Starc facing pace early.
David emails in. “Looking back on this Test, the Australians started off on the wrong foot and it was only Mitchell Starc’s extraordinary intervention at the end of the first day that allowed them to be in front at all. Should never have bowled first with the attack selected, why would they volunteer to face Harmer and Rabada on the final day? Putting their head in the lion’s mouth because of concerns with the batting. Think a large part of that has been insisting on playing Marnus for 12 months past when his form warranted. Has lead to a permanently weak and makeshift top order. You reap what you sow. Time to bite the bullet and reshape the team.”
This batting order has been jumbled and out of sorts for a while now. Opening, three, the confusion between six and seven, have all been problems.
24th over: Australia 56-6 (Green 22, Starc 0) Harmer is teasing Starc’s off stump. Two back-foot defensive punches playing leg side of the ball, trying to keep his pads out of the way, but it leaves the pegs open, and twice Starc misses that shot and Harmer almost bowls him. The last of the over Starc leaves, and Harmer almost bowls him. He’ll get the line right sooner or later, surely.
23rd over: Australia 56-6 (Green 22, Starc 0) I’m neglecting your emails, sorry, things just got too hot in the hot seat. Green takes two runs into the deep, knew he’d have time to get back. More extras for Australia, they’re only a boundary away from becoming second top-scorer, as Coetzee bowls with wild bounce that clears Green and swerves late in the air past the keeper.
22nd over: Australia 50-6 (Green 20, Starc 0) Harmer with big turn again, past the edge of Starc’s bat and away for four byes. Yep, they’re dead-batting now. Starc twice hits to deep point and refuses to run. Is that because he doesn’t want to face Coetzee, or Green doesn’t want to face Harmer? Surely Harmer is a massive threat to a left-handed lower order player.
Updated
21st over: Australia 46-6 (Green 20, Starc 0) Coetzee bowls a maiden. Not many of those for him in this match. What’s the plan for Green from here? Just bat long? I said before play that the draw was unlikely, well it’s absolutely miles away. Perhaps though it’s the only chance Australia have.
20th over: Australia 46-6 (Green 20, Starc 0) Another catch goes down! Starc edging Harmer to slip this time, it travels quickly, but Markram isn’t really to blame there, because that ball his clipped the keeper’s glove on the way. Markram is actually moving his hands into the correct spot to take that catch on a fine angle behind the keeper, then the change in direction confounds his efforts, and he nearly wears that ball in the face.
19th over: Australia 46-6 (Green 20, Starc 0) Gerald Coetzee, the ultimate afterthought bowler today, finally gets a roll. Green edges him away for a boundary. Lots of pace to work with.
18th over: Australia 42-6 (Green 16, Starc 0) Harmer always shaped as the main day-five influence, then wasn’t required as the first four wickets fell. Now he’s irrevocably shaped this match with a double strike in the 18th over.
WICKET! Connolly c Rickelton b Harmer 0, Australia 42-6
No worries, Coop. Your second Test, would you mind coming in at seven with 246 runs to get on day five? Can’t expect much from the junior player in this situation. Harmer gives it flight, offers him a drive, Connolly accepts, and some turn away from the left-hander takes the outside edge.
Updated
WICKET! Carey c Jansen b Harmer 2, Australia 42-5
Capitulation. That is all this is, now. This Australian team is under a fair bit of scrutiny back home already, and it’s going to become intense given the way they’ve thrown this away.
A leg-side nick, leaving a ball that was hitting, a stupid drive against the new ball, a self-inflicted run out, and now a reverse sweep to short fine leg. This ain’t a T20.
Updated
17th over: Australia 42-4 (Green 16, Carey 2) Jansen through another over with only a single added.
16th over: Australia 41-4 (Green 16, Carey 1) And so. South Africa were 40 for 4 in Gqeberha, and won. They were 40 for 4 in effect during their third innings here. And now Australia are 40 for 4 in the chase. It’s probably not going to work out for them, though. Carey makes it 41 with his first run.
WICKET! Inglis run out 4, Australia 40-4
What have you done, Cam Green? Never a run in that, no need to be pinching singles like it’s the last over of a one-day international. Green pushes Harmer away into the off side and takes off. Inglis does the team thing and responds. He’s quick, but not that quick. The ball limps short leg, barely moving, and Ackerman in that position just has to turn around, run a few steps, pick it up and spin back, firing it over the bails. Rickelton smashes his gloves down on top of the stumps, finding Inglis well short.
Updated
15th over: Australia 39-3 (Green 16, Inglis 3) Inglis plays a crisp pull shot, only gets a single for it, but nicely played. And then Green is lucky to survive again! South Africa lose a review into the bargain. Jansen around the wicket angling in, Green pushes forward, and the slightest inside edge, into his front pad, which then deflects the ball millimetres wide of his off stump. The South Africans think it was pad first, so they review. Thus, Green was almost caught behind off the inside edge, almost lbw, and almost bowled, and because of that South Africa lose a review and the batter profits by four runs, because the keeper was too busy appealing to stop the nick going by to the rope.
14th over: Australia 34-3 (Green 12, Inglis 2) Drinks break there, then Harmer continues, and he drops Green off his own bowling! That would have been immense for South Africa. Green drives back straight, but mistimes it, in the air and low to the bowler’s left hand. Harmer gets down and almost fingertips it, maybe touches it into the ground. He’s scooped up a few in this series at slip, and missed one earlier in this match, but now that one goes down from his own work. I have the feeling that more chances will be coming from Harmer, though.
13th over: Australia 32-3 (Green 10, Inglis 2) Jansen continues over the wicket, they’ve got short leg in place, and that man is in play with the left-armer’s angle into the right-hander’s body. Green plays a couple down not too far away from the catcher. Then gets a run into the covers. He has crawled into double figures, staunch resistance so far.
12th over: Australia 31-3 (Green 9, Inglis 2) Here comes Harmer, and he will be key… right on the money first ball! He was picked in this side to bowl to the left-handers, but the big patch of rough is outside the right-hander’s off stump, and he has two of those to deal with. Lands the ball in that rough and it turns sharply into Green’s pad, just outside the line of the off stump. Nearly lbw. Green manages to drive a run to get off strike though.
11th over: Australia 30-3 (Green 8, Inglis 2) Into the leg side goes Inglis for a single, doubling his score. Green finds another. He’s looked very calm so far. Hey, they’re 10 percent of the way to the target, why not?
10th over: Australia 28-3 (Green 7, Inglis 1) Things are starting to settle, as Mulder bowls a maiden to Green. This innings may quickly get down to a grind. But South Africa have the new-ball incisions that have set them up to have the best of that grind.
“Oh no! I started this email at 0/0 but now it’s 2/5 so it’s probably irrelevant now,” says an even less relevant Lachy Zammit. No, that’s not true Lachy, you’re always relevant. “I’m trying to work my way around StatsGuru, looking up famous Australian chases and assessing how experienced those top sevens were. It turns out that searching through stats by yourself is tricky business, so I haven’t worked anything out. What can we say about the importance of the experience in a batting line up for an intense chase?”
Unfortunately there’s no stats category to define how many matches players had previously played at the time of a certain match. The best you can do is find the highest chase scores list, open those scorecards, and eyeball it: see the notable names and the year and figure out how far into their careers they were.
But it’s not necessarily down to experience. Kyle Mayers made a double ton on debut chasing nearly 400. Those great Australian teams didn’t chase a lot of big fourth-innings scores (I remember Hobart 99, and a couple here in South Africa shortly afterwards). They tended to beat teams by big margins, and not need to chase big.
9th over: Australia 28-3 (Green 7, Inglis 1) Rabada continues. Such a smooth mover, delightful to watch. Josh Inglis doesn’t look bothered, after his first-innings century. Works his first run to midwicket. Green takes another.
Ewan Glenton’s email was written before Head’s wicket, but is all the more apt now. “Obviously Travis Head’s place in the team isn’t in doubt, but presumably there’s a bit of debate about whether he should be opening, or made best use of further down the order. Surely a Test opener should be capable of reigning things in when required (I seem to remember Warner - similarly branded an attack-dog opener - was well able to do that). The fact is Aus don’t need a ‘Travis Head special’ today (fun though it would be, of course): they can win this easily scoring at much less about, what, 3.5 an over? And given the rest of their batting isn’t very reliable, to say the least, losing him much before lunch would put them under a load of pressure.”
You have not written an untrue word, Ewan. Killing the chase early can be a good move chasing 200 on a flat track on day two when the other mob have collapsed twice. Less so chasing close to 300 on day five when the other mob have played really well.
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8th over: Australia 26-3 (Green 6, Inglis 0) Mulder comes on early, this is interesting. Green isn’t shutting up shop, either, which is probably a good move. Drives him with a lot of punch through the covers, four.
Premonition from David Blackah a few overs ago. “This all swings on Travis Head. If he gets going we are home. I would hate to see it come down to the GOAT holding up an end to save a draw. As the great Rex Mossop used to say, elan elan, toujours elan!”
It has swung on Travis Head, and not Australia’s way. He’s gone home rather than getting anyone home.
WICKET! Head c Jansen b Rabada 14, Australia 22-3
7th over: Australia 22-3 (Green 2) And that might be the ball game! What an over, it’s a journey from start to finish. Walk through it with me.
A defensive shot from Green gets him a run into the off side, then Rabada goes back to tormenting Head. Seam movement again, angled in at Head from around the wicket, then it decks away. So noticeable that this ball is seaming where barely a delivery moved sideways off the surface in the first four days. Head gets control of himself next ball, and rather than throwing the bat he places it, driving in front of point in lovely style for four. But that’s as far as his day will go. Rabada goes yorker, curling in, and Head just about keeps it out, lots of toe of the bat, which twists in his hands. Then the sixth ball is the telling blow, pushed a little wider, a fuller length that yet is not a half volley, and Head drives because Head drives, big edge, and Jansen in the gully buckets it in front of his face.
Rabada has three of three, and 350 in his career.
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6th over: Australia 17-2 (Head 10, Green 1) Jansen thumps a ball from over the wicket into the middle of Head’s pad, on an angle so there’s no dismissal risk, but it’s such a hefty blow that it takes a lot of pace out of the ball, keeping the resulting leg byes to two rather than four. That’s the only good news for Australia right now.
Muhammad Najib writes in. “Who says Test cricket is dead? It’s keeping the lights on here in Seattle. This final day reminds me of several iconic matches at once: Ashes 2005 second and third Tests both; Ashes 2006 when Mike Hussey scored the winning runs, then Travis Head’s century in the last Ashes. Whatever happens happens. It’s a day of pressure and whoever handles pressure best… All I want to see is a Marnus ton, so we keep listening to his onfield commentary with Gaz bowling on the other end.”
Your final wish arrived a bit late to help the dynamo, sorry.
5th over: Australia 15-2 (Head 10, Green 1) Travis! You cad. Another whistling cut shot that meets nothing but nitrogen and oxygen molecules. Misses that one, the Rabada gets it to seam again and beats a straighter edge. Head changes his tune and instead dashes a single wide of mid on.
“Morning Geoff,” writes Simon McMahon. “Very much looking forward to this. Final day of the series, two champion teams, result in the balance. Test cricket, eh? Let’s play!”
4th over: Australia 14-2 (Head 9, Green 1) A maiden from Jansen to Green, the giants battling one another, and Jansen nearly bowls him, mind you. A short ball that has Green hopping, plays it down into the turf, and it rolls back past his stumps.
3rd over: Australia 14-2 (Head 9, Green 1) Brave of Green to leave the ball outside off. Similar spot to the one that got Marnus, a touch fuller perhaps. He gets moving from the fifth ball, knocks a single into the off side.
2nd over: Australia 13-2 (Head 9, Green 0) Well, I said that Australia needed Head to take a bite out of the chase first, but wasn’t anticipating that he would lose two partners in the first over. He decides to do his part anyway. Defends three balls from Jansen, then lets loose as he sees width. Misses his first flail, connects cleanly with his second one along the ground, and connects dirty with his third, in the air through the cordon but safe. Two boundaries, but if I were South Africa, I’d happily feed that shot a few times looking for the mistake.
1st over: Australia 5-2 (Head 1) It had seemed such a quiet start. Travis Head took the first ball, defending crisply with a perfectly vertical bat down the line of off stump. Dolloped away his leg-side run from the second. Then Renshaw gone from the third. He had moved across a long way before glancing, is the main criticism – people always say it’s unlucky to be caught down leg, but I’m not sure why. It’s a mistimed shot, and moving across does bring the keeper into play, it increases the range of angles off the bat that could be short.
Anyway, then Labuschagne arrived, nicked a ball for four, survived a curling yorker, and tried to leave the length ball.
If you’re confused by the score at the top, that’s global style, five runs and two wickets.
WICKET! Labuschagne lbw Rabada 4, Australia 5-2
We said he needed eight, he might take all 10! Marnus Labuschagne is done as a Test cricketer, surely, surely, surely. Not many uglier dismissals than that, as he leaves a ball that jags back and hits his pad. Well outside the line of the stumps, but there’s no shot offered, and Dick Kettleborough pops up the finger without demur. Marnus has one last umpire review for old time’s sake, and it shows what the live vision suggested: umpire’s call on hitting the outside the off-stump. That’s good enough to bowl a player, so it should be good enough to trap them as well. Australia struggled to get seam movement yesterday, but with this brand new ball, Rabada does, and irresistibly shapes this match.
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WICKET! Renshaw c Rickelton b Rabada 0, Australia 1-1
Only seven to go, then, Kagiso! One of the blows that Australia could least afford. Renshaw their best long-innings performer, on the evidence of this series. Totally innocuous, ball on leg stump, he’s on the move looking to glance as he’s done throughout this tour, and he nicks it down the leg-side to the keeper. Out first ball, after Head played a similar glance to get off strike. Labuschagne is into the fire in the first over!
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Kagiso Rabada to start us off… if he takes eight wickets today, he’ll match Dennis Lillee’s 355 Test wickets. Dare to dream.
Send me an email, let’s do this with company. Gervase Greene is out of the blocks early.
“I have not looked forward to an evening in front of the telly in a lifetime. (Maybe the last day, the Oval, 2005… There’s more sub-plots than an Agatha Christie. Marnus? Trav’s spot in the order? Cam Green? Who the hell - and how the hell - we open? The call to send them in…? Wow.”
I’m not sure if that means Gervase has never looked forward more to an evening in front of the telly, or has never looked forward to one full stop. Either sentiment would be fair.
Now, I bet there is a good chance that you are saying, or that somebody will in your hearing today say, that it’s a tough blow for Australia that they don’t have Steve Smith playing. Their great batting champion, tough chase without him, et cetera, et cetera.
Not so, King of Siam, because Steve Smith in his long and remarkable career has barely made a run in the fourth innings of a Test, and barely faced a ball on the fifth day. He wins games early, and has never notably won or saved one late. I did the analysis a while back, and it still holds. Interesting to delve into the detail of how a career works.
Long story short, for this job Australia are better off with other players doing it.
What happened yesterday? Great question. A fine day of Test cricket, that’s what. But you want to know more. I know a guy who does match reports for The Guardian, let me hook you up.
It would be unfair to say that Australia let a winning position slip on the fourth day of the third Test at Cape Town, only because that would undersell how Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder prised it away. Australia’s vaunted four bowlers, owners of 1,674 wickets at day’s beginning, could only raise that to 1,678 by day’s end. In the process, a lead of 40 became 287. South Africa had been 40 for four in the first innings at Gqeberha and bounced back to win; they were effectively 40 for four in the third innings here, and now have a great chance to do the same.
Preamble
I have been saying it every day throughout this match, and most of the days throughout this series, but I can say it with truth one more time: what a beautifully set up contest. The previous 14 days all come down to this. Day five, third Test, Cape Town, where in series terms winner will take all.
Australia must chase 288 to win. South Africa must take 10 wickets. The weather is fine, so the draw is not really on the cards, unless there’s a big early collapse followed by a defensive effort. In the main, if this Australian team bats 90 overs, they’ll score what needs to be scored in the course of that.
My instinct says South Africa, however. It was not easy to bat out there on day four, which highlights just how well Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder did so for their twin centuries. Starting was difficult. There was big turn on offer, and SA have a quality spinner as well as their quality quicks. I think 288 looks right this second like a reasonable target but will rapidly look a much taller one with a couple of wickets.
The key, as so often for Australia in recent times, is Travis Head. If he can make a chunky score up front, that might put the others in the frame. If he goes early, which is always a strong chance given his playing style, that might be that.
Another belter of a day awaits. Let’s take one more turn through the garden.
