Aussies had 'tired eyes': Duminy

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Batting for time is generally a tactic associated with salvaging a draw, but on day two of the second Test it paid big dividends for South Africa.

A declaration was never on the cards and the Proteas weren't interested in quick runs at Port Elizabeth, even after Michael Clarke refused to bowl any of his three pacemen from the 134th over onwards.

Instead, JP Duminy (123) and AB de Villiers (116) batted with caution to leave Australia sweating in the field for 150.5 overs.

To put that in perspective, the Aussies never had to bowl more than 104 overs to dismiss England in the 2013-14 Ashes.

When Morne Morkel was finally run-out with the total 423, Clarke's men had spent over 10 hours in the field.

Duminy suggested it showed as they collapsed to 4-81 before reaching 4-112 at stumps on Friday.

"In the back of our minds we knew that if we kept them in the field for a long period of time that it would wear them down," he said.

"They haven't really been out in the field for a long period of time (recently) so it was definitely a game plan of ours.

"We knew that if we (then) got the ball in the right areas ... there'd be a bit of tired legs and tired eyes. Hopefully we can capitalise on that (more) tomorrow."

Quick Single: Day two at a glance

Duminy believed the visitors played right into South Africa's hands with an aggressive approach in the two hours that followed Morkel's dismissal.

"We hit good areas, but I think the difference is that the Aussies were always going to come out fighting," the 29-year-old said of the two sides' contrasting rewards with the ball on day two.

"They were always going to play their shots, which created opportunities for us, and we knew that was going to be the case."

Duminy ruptured his Achilles in the two sides' most recent Test series, in Australia in 2012, and said it made his third Test ton all the more sweet.

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