Careless Proteas Dismissals Hand Australia Control in Cape Town Third Test

By the close of day three in Cape Town, South Africa were 140 for 4, leading Australia by 40 runs in the decisive third Test. They had begun their second innings that morning 100 runs behind, and the afternoon went the way of the first two days: Australia held firm, and the Proteas gave wickets away.

The day started with some promise for the hosts. Josh Inglis made his second Test century, 102, but South Africa still took the last six Australian wickets for 99 runs. Australia finished on 429 against South Africa's 329. Spinner Simon Harmer took 4 for 104, including Inglis and Alex Carey, who made 80.

With the deficit at exactly 100, South Africa needed runs from their experienced opener and their number three. Aiden Markram and David Bedingham did not provide them. Markram drove Mitchell Starc straight to mid-off on 1, and Travis Head did not have to move. It was the fullest of the six balls Markram faced, and it was not one for his trademark shot.

Bedingham's dismissal was the harder one to watch. In the first innings he top-edged a pull off Starc to Josh Hazlewood. This time he played the same shot, with Hazlewood taking the wicket. He had just been hit in the chest by a Starc bouncer, and when Hazlewood followed two good-length balls with a short one, Bedingham went for the pull. "That is just absolutely soft from David Bedingham," said former South Africa bowler Vernon Philander. "He knew they were going to target him in that zone."

The numbers back that up. It was the fifth time in his 18 Tests that Bedingham has been dismissed pulling, and he gets out playing that shot once every 13 deliveries. His place at number three followed strong domestic form, including for Durham in the County Championship and twin hundreds for Western Province in September. His 11 here came after scores of 49, 46 and 50 in his other four innings: he gets in but has not made a match-winning contribution. Former captain Graeme Smith said Bedingham never looks in the right position for the shot. "He is always off balance," Smith said, adding that the best pullers have a strong base while Bedingham is "pirouetting on one leg." Smith pointed to Hashim Amla as the example to follow. England, who tour South Africa this winter, will have noted that Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer could test the same weakness.

Captain Temba Bavuma resisted for 115 balls, hitting one boundary. As he did in his 179 in the second-Test win in Gqeberha, which set up this Cape Town finale, he anchored a 17.3-over partnership with Matthew Breetzke after opener Marques Ackerman had made a brisk 65 before Starc bounced him out. But with four minutes left, Pat Cummins adjusted his field for spinner Nathan Lyon and placed a silly point. Bavuma, who had been pushing and driving outside off stump, was pulled from his crease and tried to force the ball through mid-wicket. He fell for 35. Australia's celebrations suggested they saw it as the crucial wicket.

South Africa still have Breetzke and Ryan Rickelton at the crease, with Wiaan Mulder, a Test triple-centurion, and in-form all-rounder Marco Jansen to come before the tail. But the lead is 40, and the task looks tall. Lyon found vicious turn, which means any chase over 200 would not be straightforward for Australia either. Day four will show whether the lower order can build a total that makes that so.