south-africa-on-the-brink-of-test-glory

South Africa are inching towards their first World Test Championship (WTC) title, now just 69 runs away with eight wickets in hand and two days to go. Chasing 282, the Proteas were 213-2 at stumps on Day 3 in the final at Lord’s on Friday as opener Aiden Markram recovered from a first innings duck to slam a splendid century and captain Temba Bavuma fought through injury, scoring 65 runs.

 

Australian pacers struggled to break their partnership as they piled on 143 runs in 38 overs after joining forces at 70 for 2. Markram reached his eighth Test century off 156 deliveries in the closing moments of the day as the two batsmen repelled everything Australia threw at them on a pitch that had flattened out in the sun to making batting much easier.

 

Defending champions Australia bombarded Markram and Bavuma with four of their top-10 all-time Test wicket-takers — who have more than 1,500 wickets in total — but they couldn’t part the Proteas pair. In fact, they could hardly trouble them on a pitch that turned out to be much different from the one where 14 wickets fell on each of the first two days. The way Australia’s last-wicket pair of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood earlier managed to add 59 in 22 overs foretold what was to come.

 

The odds were in Australia’s favour when South Africa’s 282-run chase began after lunch. But despite the early loss of Ryan Rickleton, who edged a full delivery from Starc, as confirmed by the third umpire, there was a sense of urgency in South Africa’s batting as they raced to 47 for 1 in 10 overs. Starc struck again to have Wiaan Mulder caught low at cover with the scoreboard reading 70 for 2.

 

Then came an unfortunate moment when Bavuma, on 2, edged to Steven Smith at first slip, but Smith was standing so close to the stumps that the ball burst through his hands, leaving him with a compound dislocation of his right little finger. Shortly before tea, Bavuma joined the injury list when he picked up a hamstring injury, but defying the pain, he went on. Markram, on his part, kept the scoreboard ticking.

 

Brief scores: South Africa: 138 and 213 for 2 (Markram 102*, Bavuma 65*, Starc 2-53) need 69 runs to beat Australia: 212 and 207 (Starc 58, Carey 43, Rabada 4-59, Ngidi 3-38)