Australia took another big step towards a Test series home victory over South Africa in the extended morning session of the fourth day of the Boxing Day Test. They took 3 wickets in his 34 overs and the visitors were down 266 runs despite a half-century unbeaten draw between Temba Bavuma (37*) and Kyle Verreynne.
The rain that ended the third match halfway through was gone by 4:00 a.m., and batting conditions were generally good. South Africa’s overnight batsmen Theunis de Bruyn and Sarel Erwee putt he off to solid starts against Cummins and Mitchell Stark despite having few scoring chances. It took Australia six overs of the day to create a half-chance. Starc took an edge from de Bruyn, but Edge slipped and dragged him wide behind Steve Smith.
Cummins was doing his best to be thrifty, but Stark seemed most likely to give the hosts their first breakthrough of the morning. Even when it felt like there was, it was proven when Left Armor threw a full ball into Erwee boot and deftly asked for a review. Hotspot provided evidence that the ball actually hit the batter’s toe before hitting the bat, eliminating Erwee from LBW.
Scott Boland climbed De Bruyne and produced a nearly unplayable ball that flew off the batters ledge for the second slip. Smith’s 150th catch was special in that he was seen blindsided by Marnus Labuchagne who dove over him. South Africa then slipped further as Bavuma called Khayazondo about a non-existent single, but Khayazondo was taken down by a direct hit to the head of Travis.
With 65 wins and 4 losses, South Africa looked poised for one of the tour’s most infamous meltdowns, but a counterattack that saw Bavuma and Vereyyne pull off a half-century winning streak in just 70 balls. resisted with The two batsmen never hesitated to hit shots, whether sweeping Nathan his Lyon or matching the pace against fast bowlers. However, the visitors will have to beat both batsmen in the next two sessions if they want to win Australia again in this test match.
Brief scores: South Africa 189 & 120/4 (Temba Bavuma 37*; Pat Cummins 1-8) trail Australia 575/8 decl. by 266 runs.