Cape Town: Nathan Lyon has seldom celebrated a wicket more vibrantly.
In his 14th and last over of the day, Lyon succeeded in teasing South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma into coming down the wicket and aiming a flick over the leg side.
The ball turned viciously out of the footmarks that had made Lyon (1-31) fiendishly difficult to face all afternoon, and the clatter of stumps was accompanied by a collective roar from Lyon and his teammates.
As a moment, it was the kind that Shane Warne used to conjure for Australia, and in keeping with the quality of a tantalising, undulating Test match where the tourists overcame an awful first session of the match to keep themselves in front more or less ever since.
“Yeah it was satisfying,” centurion Josh Inglis said. “I think we controlled the tempo really well in that last session. Although they put on a pretty good partnership, they weren’t really getting away from us. Gaz bowled brilliantly and looked threatening the whole time.
“And when you work for a couple of hours there, and then get the rewards right at the end, it’s really satisfying.”
At 4-140 and leading by just 40 with six wickets left, the Proteas are up against it in terms of setting a big target, but the Australians will not want to chase any more than about 200 on a surface that is now tinder dry.
They were grateful, too, for further heroics from Mitchell Starc (2-29), who gave another demonstration of his incredible durability.
Shortly after coaxing Aiden Markram to punch a drive to mid-off for his seventh consecutive South African wicket to start the innings, Starc had looked briefly uncomfortable on the boundary.
Consorting with a sub-fielder at fine leg, he looked to be flexing something, and when the strike turned over from left-hander to right his jog into position had the look of exploration about it.
Not too long later and Starc jogged up the steps to the dressing room for some time in the physio room and a patch-up to whatever fast bowler’s niggle he had picked up this time. Having returned to the field and swung around to the Kelvin Grove End, Starc promptly produced one of the balls of the series, a searing bouncer that did for Marques Ackerman via edge and helmet to slip.
The exchanges that followed, as Ackerman tried to review a fraction after his 30 seconds were up, prompting the umpires and then Travis Head to send him on his way, underlined the high pitch of competitiveness at which this series has been fought.
Starc’s physical and cricketing exploits at the age of 36, meanwhile, have been just one of many high points in a tremendous Test match, now winding towards the likelihood of a classic finish over the final two days.
Australia played some marvellous and sensible cricket on day three, once again watched by a healthy crowd. But so too did South Africa, cutting back the dimensions of the tourists’ first innings then fighting heartily with the bat as Nathan Lyon spun the ball treacherously at times and Pat Cummins used his bowlers in short bursts.
The day had begun with Inglis’ advance to a second Test hundred, getting there wonderfully by lacing a reverse sweep to the backward point boundary. Inglis celebrated heartily, making the most of an opportunity that arrived through the last-moment withdrawal of Steve Smith.
Inglis (102) has undoubtedly made the strongest case to stay in the team for the first Test against New Zealand in Perth in December, and should Smith be fit the most logical man to make way will be Marnus Labuschagne. Two hundreds in six Tests for Inglis should certainly trump Labuschagne’s three years without one.
“It’s tough playing all three forms, or at least being away for all three forms,” Inglis said. “I guess those conversations, they’re always had between those three format players and [selection chair Bailey] and the selection committee. So those conversations will probably be had over the next couple of weeks in terms of what I need to prepare for the white ball series coming up, but then obviously the Test summer as well.”
It was a surprise to all at the ground when the very next ball, Inglis leaned forward and got a thin edge behind off Simon Harmer, who remained threatening throughout. Inglis marched off frustrated, and the next few overs only added to his sense of irritation. Alex Carey (80) snicked Harmer to slip, Cummins was lbw for a duck, and only Cooper Connolly’s composed 29 ensured a three figure lead.
Still, the benefits of two nights’ rest was evident in how the Australian attack set about the Proteas, even if Cummins’ run of bowling without a wicket has now stretched beyond 200 runs.
Markram and David Bedingham were each drawn into intemperate shots by fresh bowlers, before Ackerman was bounced out and Bavuma cornered so effectively that he felt the claustrophobic urge to get away from the crouched fielders.
“There’s many ways to skin a cat,” Harmer said. “As an off-spinner, you want to bowl a right-hander through the gate. That’s the dream delivery. But there are a lot of nuances in how you can set batters up, get them to play on the back foot or front foot by using fielders.
“That’s the art of spin bowling. Understanding what’s easy and what’s difficult, how a batter is trying to play you, and you’re going to have moments where you can take a risk. But yeah, it’s about trying to play with the batter’s mind by using your field.”
In 2001 at Trent Bridge, Warne had brought about a similar rash-looking shot by Mark Ramprakash in a tight contest, paving the way for Australia to secure the Ashes. Having been in and out of the team recently, Lyon would cherish nothing more than to do likewise. Starc, too, has a South African Test series victory firmly in his sights.
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Daniel Brettig is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X.From our partners
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