Pleasing to see shield runs from a variety potential test prospects…50’s for Jewell × 2, Kellaway, Ward, Clayton, Patterson, Hunt & Hardie…just need these boys to back it up and not just show snippets…Davies knock obviously fantastic…however he scored twice as many runs in that one knock then he did all season last year across 8 or so innings…just back it up and show some consistency.
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And Maddinson averaged 17.8 in his last Shield season before being dropped 2 years ago and didnt even play 1 red ball game last summer and yet he was selected as opener above everyone by that dill Bailey & his side muppet McDonald!
Looking at the pitch yesterday, its going to be very difficult for Australia to get 19 wickets in 3 days, especially considering they only have around 75 overs per day before the light fades.
Lyon and Hazlewood were playing drives that specialist batsmen would be proud of, which indicates to me that the pitch is a road. Draw is odds on at the moment unless the Australians can make significant inroads with the new ball in the morning session.
Renshaws innings may create a dilemma for the selectors if Green is fit for the next test. Does he go back to opening again. They will have potentially 3 number 5s in the order
Mate apparently he was struggling with an unknown diagnosis of testicular cancer at the time…but hey yeah definitely not good enough perhaps he should of done better…prior to that he was going at 50 odd over a number of seasons…was scoring runs for Victoria for fun from memory…
I don’t agree with his selection, but he is in , been through a tough last couple of years, survived and bounced back playing top level cricket…that to me shows resilience, and hopefully he can score a few runs either for Aust or NSW…I am happy to back him in.
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Looking at the first half hour, the pitch looks likes a batsmans paradise. Could be a long day for the bowlers.
Australians already leaking boundaries. 64 out of 79 runs
Well I put the mozz on them! You’re welcome. TBH they looked in no trouble at all until Markram got out. Lyon bowled a great spell to strangle the scoring
Mate, the George & Ronald haters definitely aren’t going to thankyou for your reverse mozz…still time though for SA to go big, they do bat deeper then Aust does…well on paper they do. I have no doubt the Oz Dad’s Army attack will wilter and fatigue, as the day goes on…sadly age does that to the individual.
A couple of lax South African shots have brought us back into the mix
has ended up being a decent session
have to get amongst the tail now quickly they bat to 10
it’s an all-rounder bias to them
didn’t look so good at 1 for 80
why on earth would you bowl Travis Head
when you have picked Webster to be the all-rounder?
just the processes are alarming at times
obviously a ploy to buy a cheap one but geez come on
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A pity the follow on won’t be an option.I would have put them right back in.
Nah. Very rare for a team to enforce the follow on unless there is weather intervention
Gives the bowlers a break and forces the opposition to bat last on a wearing pitch
That last half hour before tea was totally bewildering. Having South Africa on the ropes at 8 for 197, Cummins and Starc embarked on a short ball barrage against numbers 9 and 10. Totally ineffective then they turn to Marnus and Head in tandem. The result is that South Africa have knocked 40 runs off the deficit
Why is Webster in the team if you are bowling part timers ahead of him?
inexplicable last 40 minutes
pretty much just gave away 40 runs
and so easily
Not the first time they’ve done THAT and FLUSHED AWAY a bigger advantage!
Maddinson just doubled his test average in half an hour 
If the Aussies can extend their 139-run lead to, say, 375 just after tea tomorrow, they should be safe.
In 46 previous Tests at Kingsmead, the highest successful run chase is the Proteas’ 5-340 against Australia in 2002.
However, as we know, records are made to be broken.
Hopefully, Travis Head and Nic Maddinson can continue their good start when play resumes.
61 overs have been lost due to bad light so far 3 days in to this Durban Test. Every afternoon at about 4.30pm local time the dark clouds drift in from the Indian Ocean and play is abandoned for the day. From memory this is a regular occurrence in Durban, should they just have a day/night pink ball Test instead?
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both sides have given up substantial late order runs
Australia here could have had a quite large lead
and they won’t get to bat out the whole day now
the pitch isn’t a bad one so they’ll need time
plus it looks like 50 runs are a cert with those part timers
Due to the bad light scenario there are realistically 150 overs left in this match. Ideally Australia would bat for around 50 overs today and try and go at around 4 an over if possible. That would bring the lead up around 350 and give the bowlers 20 overs in the fading light today then 75 overs tomorrow
The pitch isnt going to deteriorate massively so they may need to dangle a carrot to the Saffers and set them a target which is realistic otherwise it may be difficult to dig them out if they are playing for a draw.
It will be a fascinating watch over the next 2 nights. It has been a good tussle so far with the game see sawing between the sides. Highlight for me has been those unbelievable catches by Smith and the batting of Renshaw.
Very disappointing attendances for the first 3 days given the quality of the cricket
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Was just a matter of time before Maddinson went Nortje sending his stumps flying in to Joburg!
Oh for an old time opener who just wants to bat all day long!