“Enhanced figure”: South African skipper stands tall as Maddinson fails

• Australia 1/3 at stumps on Day 3, trailing by 422 runs
• South Africa 9/425d, captain Temba Bavuma scored 179
• Proteas bowlers Marco Jansen (85) and Simon Harmer (82) wagged the tail with the bat
• Scott Boland finished with 5/81 for the Aussies

Diminutive South African captain Temba Bavuma stood tall on Day 3, putting his side in full control of the second Test at St George's Park in Gqeberha with a fighting 179 runs.

It gives the hosts a strong foothold to get back into the series.

The Proteas skipper picked up where he left off on Day 2 and didn’t miss a beat, showing grit and determination to bring up his highest Test score and his first Test century against Australia.

“Temba Bavuma makes his stand. With the series on the line the South African captain tames Australia and leads his team back from the brink. He stands an enhanced figure that will play heavily in his legacy as leader,” said SEN Cricket's Gerard Whateley.

“That is a seriously, seriously good Test knock under extreme pressure. He has stood up magnificently,” Simon Katich reflected. "He finished with 179 before finally succumbing to Mitch Starc, and with that South Africa declared for a quick dash at Australia before stumps."

SA fightback driven by record-breaking partnership

After limping to 6/110 and looking like they might barely reach 150, things swung dramatically for South Africa off the back of solid batting.

Marco Jansen came to the crease, joining Bavuma with a mandate to score, and he did just that with power and precision. The two put on a partnership of 132 – the first 100+ run partnership for the seventh wicket at St George’s Park in Test history - as they pulled South Africa right back into contention.

Jansen was blistering in advancing the run rate, an 87-metre six straight down the ground the highlight before he fell to Scott Boland for 85 from 100 balls. The pain didn’t end there with Simon Harmer then digging in alongside Bavuma as they put on a South African record 183-run partnership for the eighth wicket, with Harmer bringing up his highest ever Test score of 82.

It was the biggest eighth wicket partnership in South African Test history, surpassing Shaun Pollock and Neil McKenzie against Sri Lanka in 2001. As Vernon Philander noted: “It’s almost the mirror of what we saw with Australia in Durban.”

Bolo keeps adding to his record books

It took Scott Boland with the new ball to break the Bavuma-Jansen partnership, bringing up his fifth wicket for the match and his third Test 5-fa. He became the second oldest Australian pace bowler to take a five-wicket haul, and whilst after that he looked mortal for the first time in the match, he wasn’t alone.

Important milestone for Mitch Starc, but other seamers fail

Australian paceman Mitch Starc notched up his 450th Test wicket with the removal of Wiaan Mulder.

Just the 10th bowler to reach the milestone and the first left-armer, Starc has cemented his place as a modern bowling great. With the volume of Test cricket to come in the short term, the prospect of reaching 500 in the next 12 months looks possible.

That said, Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood failed to impact in brighter conditions. Hazlewood clearly wasn’t right after missing yesterday with illness, and Cummins went 0/96.

“Somehow they just couldn’t find the rhythm and the length,” mused Philander.

They just couldn’t make an impact, and in the last session the part-timers were brought in to shoulder the load. Could Australia have used Nathan Lyon?

Maddinson fails again

South Africa put Australia in for a tricky 25 minutes before stumps and Nic Maddinson departed for a fourth-ball duck facing Kagiso Rabada’s first over.

“That’s not the sort of opening batting that’s going to survive the testing pace of Kagiso Rabada, who enters the series with menace. That’s not opening batting,” called Whateley.

Scott Boland came in as the nightwatchman and it was only bad light that saved them from facing further heat from Rabada with the spinners forced on until stumps.

What is the path to victory from here?

There’s two days left in the Test – South Africa still need to take 19 wickets, and Australia has only just started their first innings. The hosts will be looking to speed the game up and roll Australia cheaply, whilst you’d need to be imaginative to plot the path to victory for Australia from here. That said, all results are still on the table.

Katich thought South Africa would have declared earlier: “I’m surprised with the tactics. I thought they’d be wanting 25-30 overs at Australia. Unless they’re going to roll Australia for 150, it’s hard to see how they take the 20 wickets.”

Philander agreed: “I thought they might have declared half an hour earlier.”

Spare a thought for umpire Chris Gaffaney

The New Zealand umpire was rostered to be the field umpire in this match and missed the first two days with illness. Returning to duties on day three, he lasted one session before having to be replaced for the remainder of the Test by Arno Jacobs, who had covered him for the first two days. Get well Chris!

A crunch Day 4 kicks off at 6:45pm AEDT and you can hear all the action LIVE from South Africa across the SEN network.

Image credit: Getty