Key events
Want to know what happened on day four of the second Test? Luckily, I know a guy who has a good source for match reports.
There it was, another entry in Australia’s hall of infamy against South Africa. There was 47 all out, in the innocent days when the 2011 Test was the worst humiliation in Cape Town. There was 85 all out in Hobart, 2016, that led to half the side being sacked. Now there is 99 all out in Gqeberha, one day after the home team blew past 400, only for the visitors to follow on halfway through day four.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
What say you, traveller? Tarry by the fire a minute? We may trade tales of desperate glory.
A bit of that ahead of us today, or at least it needs to be if Australia hope to save this game. This is a team that was forced to follow on yesterday, then lost four more wickets second time around, and they’re still 170 runs behind.
The equation is this. To take on the task we have Travis Head nearing a hundred, Scott Boland nightwatching at the other end, then it will be Steve Smith with a crook neck, Alex Carey of the horrible shot yesterday, and the bowler trio of Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood.
Between them, this lot need to bat for three sessions, with perhaps a slightly early end for bad light. Or, if they’re able to score as well as bat time, they could try to make that 170 and get into the lead, where every run is worth double because South Africa would need time to score them back.
Admittedly that’s unlikely given the four wickets to have fallen, but if things did pan out that way, Australia could kill the game sooner than three sessions by getting far enough in front.
Far more likely is that South Africa’s bowlers will be refreshed by a night’s sleep, and will pick them off in time, with six wickets to get.
The series will stay live if South Africa pull this off. High stakes. You in?
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