Australia vs South Africa – 2nd Test Day 3 Summary and Analysis

Performers (Day 3):

Batting: Usman Khawaja 75 off 136 balls, Mitchell Marsh 39* off 119 balls.

Bowling: Kagiso Rabada 3/38 in 16 overs, Lungi Ngidi 1/21 in 10 overs.

Player of the match: In-Process

1. The day resumed with South Africa’s superman AB de Villiers and Philander walking out in the middle. Australia looked to clean up the tail but they were in for an ABD’s special.
2. Philander showed quite the resistance by scoring a gritty 36 off 85 balls while ABD scored his superb century on the other end. After Philandersdefense was broken down by Cummins Maharaj walked in the middle. Both batsmen ABD and Maharaj went berserk on the Australian bowlers as they started playing their shots more aggressively.
3. Maharaj, in particular was very impressive with the bat and he 30 off only 24 balls before Hazelwood got the better of him and uprooted his stumps. This partnership of 54 that ABD and Maharaj helped South Africa in scoring a good lead.
4. Anyways, the last batsman Lungi Ngidi walked out in the middle and unlike the previous test where ABD did not try to protect the tail and let them be the victims of Australian bowling, this time however he tried his best to retain the strike and score runs from the other end. However, in this process Ngidi was run out by a superb direct hit from Smith and this ended the South African Innings.
5. Australians were now trailing by a substantial margin and it was their openers who could give them a good start. Australian openers Warner and Bancroft took strike and started playing cautiously yet steadily. But after playing with a defensive approach for 9 overs Rabada finally got the breakthrough for South Africa as he shattered the stumps of David Warner.
6. Usman Khawaja came to the crease looking to improve his bad form and put some runs on the board. He along with Bancroft shared a 35-run partnership before Bancroft was removed by Ngidi.
7. In walked the South African captain, Steven Smith and showed intent to score runs and put Australia in the lead, however as expected he lost his wicket for the 3^rd time in 4 innings to Keshav Maharaj which led many to believe that Smith’s armor that is made up of an average of 63 will finally be broken down by left-arm spin bowlers.
8. Shawn Marsh then joined Khawaja but departed after facing five balls as Rabada struck again as he forced the all-rounder to edge out to de Kock. His brother Mitchell Marsh then walked in the middle and joined Khawaja who scored his first fifty and resurrected his form in this innings.
9. Marsh and Khawaja shared a strong partnership of 87 and right when this was looking threating for South Africa Rabada-the South Africa’s hitman got rid of Khawaja who returned to the pavilion after a well made 75 off 136 balls.
10. The wicket keeper batsman Tim Paine joined Marsh and both showed great temperament to not lose their wicket and see the day off.
11. Australia finished the day with a lead of 41 with only wickets remaining. South Africa surely are on top as these are they need only one wicket to expose the Australian tail. The only way for Australia to come back in this Test Match is to get a handsome lead tomorrow and set a target of 250 for South Africa as anything less than 200-250 is like giving South Africa this match on a silver platter.

For updates regularly visit: Allsportspk