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Proteas shine to set up record chase

Australia will need to chase down at least 389 to win the first Test after South Africa dominated day three at the WACA

Australia on home soil have known days of similar fruitlessness and frustration as they were condemned to endure as South Africa piled on 4-286 during a dominant day three at the WACA Ground.



In fact, it was day three of the Perth Test just last summer that New Zealand stacked up 370 runs for the loss of only four wickets against an almost identical bowling attack, save for Mitchell Johnson.

Who was so dispirited by the lack of responsiveness in the once lively WACA pitch that he called stumps on his career before the match had ended, with his role in the shooting gallery handed to Peter Siddle this time around.

But while this is scarcely uncharted terrain, the path they have taken to get here has been rendered vastly dissimilar by an undermanned opponent so stoically resilient that they refused to accept what everyone else accepted as fact after the one-way traffic of the first four sessions of the match.

Duminy delivers ton for Proteas

That the Proteas would be flat out trying to find a way to fashion a draw over the remaining three and a lot days, never mind entertaining the absurd notion they could pluck a win.

However, that scenario now seems the more likely of all potential outcomes in this Commonwealth Bank series opener now that the Proteas enter the penultimate day at 6-390, holding a lead of 388 with two days to play.

Quick Single: Back from the brink, JP delivers again

A position utterly unthinkable after they were rolled over for 242 and their rivals, who have made a dynasty out of monstering timid touring teams who dare venture into their backyard, coasted to 0-156 in response.

As South Africa’s unyielding defiance in the face of Australia’s gold standard bowling attack and under the heat of a typical (if recently rare) 37C Perth summer day so graphically illustrated, the one element of this Test that hasn’t turned on its head is the pitch.

Australia claim wickets late on day three

It remains the good batting surface it was throughout the first two days, when both teams squandered opportunities to post the sorts of scores seen a year ago.

Although today’s baking sun, with the forecast of two more cloudless days to follow, means the cracks that traverse its length are becoming ever wider and influential.

As a parade of talking heads noted in the days leading into the series, once a batter was prepared to "get himself in" under such conditions, scoring runs was both bountiful and enjoyable.

But apart from the opening stand between David Warner and Shaun Marsh that carried Australia to within 100 runs of a lead but did not deliver individual centuries, nobody had looked like living the "bat big" philosophy.

Until opener Dean Elgar (127) and fellow left-hander JP Duminy (141) took up occupation in the middle for six-and-a-half hours during which their third-wicket partnership yielded 250 runs.

Elgar makes Aussies sweat in Perth heat

The most substantial union for any wicket by a visiting Test pair in Australia since ... well, since the Black Caps’ Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor rattled up 265 in Perth a year ago.

The partnership that carried South Africa from ascendant to dominant was a textbook hybrid of concentration, conservatism and sufficient flashes of belligerence when the opportunities presented themselves.

And as the Australian bowlers tired in the heat - with the notable exception of the country’s most successful ever off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who didn’t bowl until lunch was digested and the ball was almost 70 overs old - those bonuses came ever more regularly.

Quick Single: Smith defends tactics after Clarke criticism

Duminy was the more fluent of the two left-handers who so successfully rewrote the template of this intriguing Test, especially in the immediate aftermath of the tea break when he charged from 76 to 92 in the space of 10 deliveries.

Duminy delights with four fours in seven balls

But given that the first innings phase of the game – in complete contrast to last year’s runs-fest – was done and dusted inside five sessions, they had a duty to chew up time in the match as well as progress the Proteas’ lead.

Because as South Africa showed in their famous win at the same venue in 2008, and as Warner boldly predicted at the close of the second day, any target could be chaseable at the WACA if time was not an issue.

Particularly with South Africa minus a bowler now that Dale Steyn’s shoulder fracture has seen him exit the series.

The 414 that the Proteas chased down eight years ago was scored on a largely flawless batting strip, and that looms as the fundamental difference in any parallels between the two Test matches.

The current iteration is showing regular enough signs of misbehaviour to hint that the visitors might already have enough.

Aussies’ frustration grows in first Test

While Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were able to generate reverse swing at times on a largely barren day, it was the deliveries that darted and jagged off the cracks that created the most angst.

For batters who saw inside edges shoot backwards at their stumps and balls that flew off the splice fly into space, and for bowlers who couldn’t fathom why they failed to find the woodwork or the waiting hands of a fielder.

A couple of bona fide chances that the long suffering attack managed to generate were dropped, although neither skied mishits that failed to clear the infield were technically 'dropped' because the despairing fielders failed to land a hand on them.

Starc’s desperate circling as he ran back towards the fence from mid-off when Elgar was 81 that yielded him nothing but a bout of dizziness, and Adam Voges' long run from leg slip to backward square than ended with a dive but no catch.

Aussie paceman stumbles in the field

Voges, whose miss granted South Africa’s first innings top scorer Quinton de Kock (16 not out at day’s end) a priceless life having made just one, was perhaps hampered by the left hamstring twinge he appeared to suffer when chasing a ball to the third man rope an hour or more earlier.

In a not dissimilar spot to where Usman Khawaja tore his in the corresponding game last year, costing him a place in subsequent Tests in Hobart and Adelaide (where the final two Tests against South Africa will be played in coming weeks).

But despite picking up some valuable late wickets in the final session – Temba Bavuma holing out to deep square leg for 8 and Faf du Plessis caught at the wicket for 32 – the day totally belonged to the tourists.

If they carry that scope of advantage into day four, the first Test of this three-match series will likely be theirs as well.

Swing bowling explained with Windows 10 Analyser

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