Australia turned the screw on South Africa on a decisive fourth day’s play in Durban as the visitors are now six wickets away from winning the Test match. Matt Renshaw’s 82 and the sustained batting urgency from Australia – accentuated in the second session, allowed them to set South Africa a daunting target of 421. South Africa lost opener Ryan Rickelton early but the second-wicket pair of Aiden Markram and David Bedingham stonewalled Australia through a tight phase of play, until Hazlewood ended that. For a change, bad light didn’t come in the way of the final session and Australia made more merry. When play eventually ended, South Africa lost two more wickets and seemed out of sorts heading into the final day.
Australia went into Day 4 sitting high and mighty after their bowlers earned them a 106-run first-innings lead. They laid into South Africa bowlers to swell that number over the course of the day, putting further daylight between Temba Bavuma’s side and a favourable result. Opener Nic Maddinson, who started with a four and threw his bat around under fading light on Day 3, came out with similar intentions on Day 4. He started with a couple of streaky fours but Marco Jansen dismissed Travis Head in the second over of the day. But Maddinson remained unfazed. He hit Jansen for a four and Simon Harmer for a six to swiftly move into the 40s. It took an exceptional yorker from Anrich Nortje to take out the counter-attacking opener, sending him back for a 38-ball 48.
Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne then got together and moved the lead along at brisk pace, adding another 50-run stand. That perhaps could’ve gone on longer if Smith hadn’t tried his luck at clearing the tall frame of Jansen at long-on with a big hit, and failed. A little earlier, Smith took a blow to his helmet from Nortje delivery and didn’t take the field for South Africa’s second innings. Labuschagne couldn’t keep going either, falling for a tossed up delivery from Keshav Maharaj and lobbing it to cover. Australia lost four wickets in the morning session but managed to add 141 runs to their already big lead.
Renshaw, who’d arrived to bat after Smith’s dismissal, took charge and added two crucial partnerships in the second session – worth 48 with Alex Carey and 65 with Beau Webster. His alliance with Carey ticked along at a casual pace, but the latter’s dismissal triggered run-scoring hurry from the visitors. Nortje had Carey playing the ball onto his stumps which brought Webster to the middle. During this partnership, Australia scored 65 off just 71 deliveries to push the game away from South Africa’s grasp. Renshaw followed his first-innings century with a fifty in the second, and looked set to turn that into another triple-figure score. But an acrobatic effort from Keshav Maharaj, off his own bowling, sent the left-hander back for a well-made 82 off just 99 balls. At 270/6, with a lead of 376, Cummins strutted out with the license to swing for the fence. And he connected. The Aussie captain hit four sixes in his 12-ball 32* as Australia took 140 runs in just 22 overs in the middle session. As they walked back for Tea, Cummins declared and set South Africa a target of 421.
After Hazlewood broke through early, Markram and Bedingham put on a defiant act for a large part of the evening, as fielders around the bat got chatty with Nathan Lyon getting the ball to turn sharply into the right-handed pair. Hazlewood beat the bat of both the batters multiple times without success. For nearly 20 overs, Markram and Bedingham looked like they would make Australia toil for the remainder of the Test. But Hazlewood came in clutch – not for the first time, as he trapped Beddingham leg before to carve South Africa open. Renshaw, who can do no wrong in this Test, turned his golden arm over and had Temba Bavuma caught at forward short leg to leave South Africa in a spot of bother. That soon got worse as Cummins set up Tristan Stubbs with a flurry of short balls followed up a sucker full delivery which Stubbs chased and nicked behind. Wiaan Mulder and Markram batted out 50 balls together to take South Africa to stumps at 102/4. A tall order awaits them on Day 5.
Brief scores: Australia 390 (Matt Renshaw 190, Pat Cummins 43; Wiaan Mulder 4-68, Marco Jansen 3-68) & 314/6 decl. (Matthew Renshaw 82, Nic Maddinson 48; Anrich Nortje 2-56, Keshav Maharaj 2-56) lead South Africa 284 & 102/4 (David Bedingham 46, Aiden Markram 45*; Josh Hazlewood 2-20, Pat Cummins 1-27, Matt Renshaw 1-16) by 319 runs
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