South Africa vs Australia 2018, 4th Test, Day 4: 5 Talking points

Riding on a fantastic ton from skipper Faf du Plessis, a fighting 81 from Dean Elgar and a couple of unbeaten 30s from Temba Bavuma and Vernon Philander helped South Africa stretch their lead to 612.

With a mammoth target in front of them, Australia began well as the openers Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns fought hard for 12 overs before Morne Morkel came back from injury and picked up both openers to give South Africa an opening.

Meanwhile, Khawaja was out to a controversial decision as the Australian No. 3 tried to play a belated shot and the umpire deemed it no shot offered and was given out LBW.

With Australia three down, they face an uphill task of batting out the entire day tomorrow and eking out a draw.

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#5 A delayed start, but South Africa continue with the same approach as Day 3

In the final session, South Africa had shown grit and patience. With the pitch misbehaving, they didn’t look for quick runs, instead, they were content in defending displaying great patience.

Resuming at 134/3, one expected them to get on with things and score quickly. However, nothing of that sort happened as South Africa continued their approach that they followed on the third day. They were patient and waited for the bad deliveries. It was only at the introduction of spin that Faf du Plessis tried to attack and be aggressive.

On the other hand, Dean Elgar continued to fight hard. He remained on his overnight score of 39 almost for an hour. He scored his first run of the day off the 25th delivery he faced today. The crowd greeted it with cheers. Elgar sported a smile too as he drove a Chadd Sayers delivery to cover for a couple of runs.

South Africa scored 68 runs in 20 overs in a truncated first session and the declaration was nowhere in sight.

#4 Faf du Plessis roars back to form with a ton; Elgar misses out

The captain led from the front as he scored his 8th Test ton

Faf du Plessis is not having the best of summers as a batsman. He began well with a couple of 60s in the first two Tests against India. But since that, he didn’t breach the 50-run mark. In fact, after the second Test against India in Centurion, he reached double figures only twice.

However, in the second innings of the final Test match of the summer and the series, he responded in style. Coming into bat at 94/3, Du Plessis absorbed the little pressure that was created and batted beautifully.

He attacked Nathan Lyon every time he felt the off-spinner was on top. He did get hit multiple times on his finger, the finger which kept him out of the ODI series against India. However, he kept batting. He reached his fifty in the morning session today.

With a declaration in sight, he started to up the ante. He found the boundary at regular intervals. He did slow down just a touch when he was in the 80s, but he picked up the pace as soon as he entered the 90s.

He got to his 8th Test ton with a boundary down to third man and the celebrations were on. He got out for 120 but not before he put South Africa in a commanding position.

Dean Elgar, on the other hand, battled hard. He was defending well and wasn’t distracted by the fact that Du Plessis was comfortably out-scoring him. He scored when the opportunity was there.

Although he missed out on a hundred (scoring 81 off 250 balls), the 170-run partnership he shared with Faf du Plessis pushed South Africa’s lead over 500.

#3 South Africa bat long and finally declare after the lead goes past 600

Temba Bavuma continued his good form

With a lead of over 400 at the start of the day, it looked like South Africa would score some quick runs and declare. However, that declaration never came until Tea on the fourth day.

In a shortened first session (due to rain and bad light), Elgar and Du Plessis batted for 20 overs and scored 68 runs. Neither of them seemed in a hurry and continued batting. Post lunch, Du Plessis and Elgar did show some signs of aggression.

Once the skipper got his hundred, he went for his shots and fell in the process. It looked like the declaration would come then, but it wasn’t the case. Elgar was also dismissed for 81 and it seemed sure that was it, but no, South Africa continued batting.

Temba Bavuma and Vernon Philander then added 71 runs in about 14 overs. Their stand stretched the lead beyond 600. At Tea, finally, the declaration came as South Africa decided to have a crack at the Aussies and gave themselves four sessions to bowl them out.

#2 Side strain? What side strain? Morne Morkel comes back and picks up two wickets

Even though he was not 100 percent fit, Morne Morkel came out all guns blazing

When Morne Morkel walked off the field with a side strain, things were not looking great. He did try to bowl in the lunch break to assess and see how far he can go.

The hope that the tall pacer will bowl in the second innings of his farewell Test was diminished after AB de Villiers’ chat to the broadcasters. He had told that Morne Morkel was a bit sore and will bowl only if needed.

But the big tall 32-year-old pacer was seen warming up during the tea break and that gave a slight hint that he might bowl but it wasn’t confirmed. However, there was a loud cheer and a roar from the crowd as they saw Morne Morkel at the start of his run-up in the 11th over of the innings.

Even though he was not 100 percent fit, he looked in good rhythm. In his first over, he rapped Renshaw on the pads and then beat him on the outside edge. And in his second over, he struck and gave South Africa the first breakthrough.

He attacked the stumps and caught Renshaw plumb in front. Morkel brought an end to a stoic and a fighting stand.

He also got rid of Joe Burns who was looking very good. He once again pitched the ball up and caught the right-handed opener right in front. It ended a fighting knock from Burns.

Morkel bowled a superb 8-over spell and ended the fourth day with figures of 8-4-18-2. He was always threatening and looked in great form.

#1 Australia show some fight but lose three wickets

Joe Burns showed good fight but he was dismissed at the fag end of the day

Chasing 612, Australia needed to show some fight. They needed a good start to show that fight. The two openers Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns were up for a battle. They blunted out whatever was thrown at them. Renshaw was stoic while Burns was severe on anything loose.

They put on just 15 runs in the first 10 overs, but it, more importantly, they were still there. They were battling hard. However, the introduction of Morne Morkel changed things. He got rid of the enduring Renshaw. But Burns continued to fight.

Khawaja, on the other hand, must have felt he was hard done. He made his mind late to play a shot and his bat seemed to be hiding behind the pad and hence the umpire deemed that Khawaja wasn’t offering a shot.

Hence, he was given out LBW. He looked shocked as he wasn't given the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile, Joe Burns continued to play well but was dismissed by Morne Morkel in the 25th over. Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb then saw through the day without any damage.