Match Summary: Day Three
- South Africa: 329 & 140-4 (Ackerman 62; Starc 2-29)
- Australia: 429 (Inglis 102; Harmer 4-104)
- Current Status: South Africa lead by 40 runs
The winner of this third Test match will secure the top spot in the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings, but South Africa’s position is currently precarious.
After successfully wrapping up the Australian tail on the morning of the third day—limiting the tourists to 429 with Josh Inglis scoring a century—the hosts began their second innings trailing by 100 runs. The Proteas began their second innings facing a deficit of exactly 100, having taken the last six Australian wickets for 99 runs in the morning despite Josh Inglis’ second Test century.
Instead of building a solid foundation, the Proteas found themselves 140-4 by the close of play.
South African batters faced heavy criticism for gifting wickets through indisciplined strokes. Opening batter Aiden Markram fell for just one, driving a full delivery from Mitchell Starc directly to Travis Head at mid-off. While Markram’s error was costly, the dismissal of David Bedingham drew even sharper scrutiny for his repetitive tactical failings.
Bedingham, who struggled against the short ball throughout the series, top-edged a pull shot off Josh Hazlewood to be dismissed for 11. This marked the fifth time in 18 Tests that the right-hander has fallen while playing the pull, averaging a dismissal every 13 deliveries when attempting the stroke. Vernon Philander described the effort as “absolutely soft,” noting that the batter failed to learn from his identical dismissal in the first innings. With Hazlewood the wicket-taking bowler, this time he repeated the shot. Given the prized position in South Africa’s batting order on the back of strong domestic form for Durham in the County Championship and twin hundreds for Western Province in September, this score of 11 followed contributions of 49, 46 and 50 in his other four innings. On average he gets out playing that shot once every 13 deliveries. Some would say that is more infuriating than not getting in at all, batting in the key position of first drop. When, after starting with two balls on a good length, Hazlewood went short again, Bedingham’s eyes lit up. Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer and co should have been taking note.
Former captain Graeme Smith added that Bedingham appears consistently off-balance when attempting hook or pull shots, failing to establish a strong base. Smith suggested that players like Hashim Amla historically opted to put such high-risk shots away during difficult phases, a strategy he argued Bedingham should adopt. That is what a player like Bedingham needs to think about.
The frustration for the home side continued as captain Temba Bavuma was also tempted into a wild swipe, departing for 35.
The Proteas, who have struggled to convert starts into match-winning contributions, now face a difficult task to set a challenging target for Australia. He knew they were going to target him in that zone.
With only six wickets remaining and a lead of just 40, the match hangs in the balance, with England—scheduled to tour South Africa this winter—likely watching these tactical lapses with keen interest. Although they will have taken note with a tour of South Africa to come this winter, this time it was not England helping their opponents.
