South Africa v Australia: third men’s cricket Test, day five – live
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Updates from the final day of the series at Newlands
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First ball in Cape Town is 10.30am local/7.30pm AEDT/8.30am GMT
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Any thoughts? Get in touch with an email
Now, I bet there is a good chance that you are saying, or that somebody will in your hearing today say, that it’s a tough blow for Australia that they don’t have Steve Smith playing. Their great batting champion, tough chase without him, et cetera, et cetera.
Not so, King of Siam, because Steve Smith in his long and remarkable career has barely made a run in the fourth innings of a Test, and barely faced a ball on the fifth day. He wins games early, and has never notably won or saved one late. I did the analysis a while back, and it still holds. Interesting to delve into the detail of how a career works.
It would be unfair to say that Australia let a winning position slip on the fourth day of the third Test at Cape Town, only because that would undersell how Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder prised it away. Australia’s vaunted four bowlers, owners of 1,674 wickets at day’s beginning, could only raise that to 1,678 by day’s end. In the process, a lead of 40 became 287. South Africa had been 40 for four in the first innings at Gqeberha and bounced back to win; they were effectively 40 for four in the third innings here, and now have a great chance to do the same.