Australia fight but Test slipping away

Session times: 6pm - 8pm | 8.40pm - 10.40pm | 11pm - 1am (all times AEST)

The fourth Test is being broadcast live in Australia on Fox Sports while SEN's live commentary feed can be heard on the CA Live app and cricket.com.au

Australia fought valiantly on day three in Johannesburg but face a record run chase to win the fourth Test against South Africa and square the series two-all.

At the close of play on Sunday, South Africa are 3-134, possessing a lead of 401 with obdurate opener Dean Elgar (39 off 158) and captain Faf du Plessis (34 off 69) unbeaten at the crease.

The highest successful run chase at The Wanderers is Australia’s 8-310 in 2011 when a teenage Pat Cummins hit the winning runs on debut, and only one side – South Africa in 2013 – has scored more than 400 in the fourth innings at the iconic venue.

With no declaration in sight, the Proteas will likely bat on tomorrow to grind their opponents into the ground before setting about capturing the 10 wickets they need to secure the series win, which would be their first over Australia on home soil in 48 years.

An hour out from the start of play, a Cricket Australia spokesperson confirmed Australia captain and wicketkeeper Tim Paine will play the remainder of the match with a fractured right thumb sustained from a nasty blow keeping up to the stumps to debutant seamer Chadd Sayers on Saturday.

Showers were forecast on Easter Sunday but the gloomy overheard conditions brought no rain as overnight batsmen Paine and Cummins put together a rearguard partnership.

South Africa would have wanted to nip out the four remaining Australian wickets as soon as possible to potentially enforce the follow-on, take 10 second-innings wickets and wrap up the Test inside three days.

However, those possible plans were scuppered by Paine and Cummins, who together fashioned 99 for the seventh wicket, Australia’s highest partnership of the series.

That no tandem has posted three figures in union on this tour is perhaps the clearest indicator of why the tourists look destined to suffer a 3-1 series defeat.

Cummins was elevated to No.8 by banned captain Steve Smith at the start of the tour as recognition of his improved batting ability and key contributions in the Ashes, but before today he’d put together scores of 3, 26, 0, 5, 4 and 0 in this series to raise questions about whether his promotion and status as burgeoning allrounder was premature.

Image Id: 596BC6F96BC244FF8E07CA4554CA71D3 Image Caption: Pat Cummins celebrates his maiden Test fifty // cricket.com.au

But those questions were answered in the negative on Sunday as he crafted out his first half-century in Test cricket, a fine knock that featured six boundaries and a solitary six off left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.

His innings ended when he missed a sweep shot off Maharaj and ball tracking displayed three red lights, gone for an even 50, and while Cummins was the only wicket to fall in the first session, he wasn’t the only casualty.

Towering paceman Morne Morkel suffered a left side strain two balls into his fourth over of the day, putting doubt around his future involvement in what is his final Test. But it’s understood he’s going to try everything possible to bowl in the fourth innings.

Paine entered lunch on 47 and lost two partners after the break – Nathan Lyon and Chadd Sayers dismissed inside eight balls - before he posted his fourth Test fifty.

With No.11 at the other end, Paine farmed the strike against the Proteas quicks and hit a six off Maharaj in a desperate attempt to chip off as much as the first-innings deficit as possible.

On 62, Paine’s patience ran out when he charged Kagiso Rabada and was spectacularly caught by Elgar, who sprinted toward the boundary from mid-off and soared through the thin Johannesburg air to reel in the skied swipe.

With Morkel off injured and the weather holding out, South Africa opted not to enforce the follow-on and sent Elgar and Aiden Markram out to bat with a 267-run lead.

The Proteas opening pair pushed the advantage past 300 and their partnership to 54 before 'Postman Pat' delivered again, Cummins extracting an outside edge from Markram’s forward prod to the safe hands of Peter Handscomb at second slip.

In the final session, Lyon had No.3 Hashim Amla caught by Mitch Marsh at leg gully, while in his final knock of the series, AB de Villiers copped a brute from Cummins and could only glove a fend through to Paine behind the stumps and be out for six.

Du Plessis needed medical assessment and some of that all-curing magic spray when Sayers rapped him on his right index finger that has caused him trouble since breaking it in the preceding ODI series against India.

For the last hour, du Plessis and Elgar shut up shop as if it were a public holiday, which even resulted in Lyon bowling leg-breaks from round the wicket to the left-hander.

The final scoring shot of the day – a cut from du Plessis off Josh Hazlewood through cover point - edged the lead past 400 as the players left the ground with a maximum of two days left in the series. 

Australia XI: Matthew Renshaw, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (c/wk), Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Chadd Sayers

South Africa XI: Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis (c), Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel

Qantas tour of South Africa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, AB de Villiers.

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.

Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights

First Test Australia won by 118 runs. Scorecard

Second Test South Africa won by six wickets. Scorecard

Third Test South Africa won by 322 runs. Scorecard

Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage