Adam Voges and Adam Collins discussing ball-tampering incident happened on Day 3 of 3rd test match between SA v AUS. (3:30)
Tea Australia 255 and 47 for 0 (Warner 25*, Bancroft 22*) need another 383 runs to beat South Africa 311 and 373 (Markram 84, De Kock 65, De Villiers 63, Philander 52*, Cummins 3-67, Hazlewood 3-69, Lyon 3-102)
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The sideshow continued on the field at Newlands on Sunday, while the real action was happening off it. When the tea break arrived, Australia’s captain Steven Smith was padded up and waiting for his chance to bat in a chase of 430. And he knew that this would be his last act of the series, for less than half an hour before the break, the ICC had announced that Smith would be suspended for the final Test in Johannesburg over his role in the ball-tampering drama on day three.
Out in the middle was Cameron Bancroft, the young opener who had been at the centre of the controversy when he was caught on camera using a piece of tape in an attempt to rough up the ball, before shoving it down his trousers in a desperate ploy to get away with it. Surprisingly, the ICC had shown lenience, fining Bancroft but not suspending him, though it was impossible to imagine Cricket Australia would allow him to play in any case.
Bancroft’s concentration is considered legendary in Australian domestic cricket – he once batted for nearly 13 hours in a Sheffield Shield innings – but it still beggared belief that he could focus on batting after the events of the previous 24 hours. Still, at tea he had not lost his wicket, and was on 22, alongside David Warner on 25, with Australia having moved to 47 for 0.
From an Australian perspective the match situation seemed hardly to matter, but South Africa had worked hard to gain the upper hand in this Test and for most of the first two sessions they only strengthened their position. The morning began in somewhat stunned silence, and with Tim Paine captaining the Australians after Smith and vice-captain Warner were stood down from their leadership roles for the remainder of the Test, although they remained on field.
South Africa could do nothing but carry on trying to win the match, and that they did by adding 135 further runs to their total for the loss of their final five wickets. AB de Villiers was caught in the cordon for 63, but Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander kept the runs coming and the lead growing. De Kock scored his second half-century of the series before he fell for 65, advancing to Pat Cummins and edging behind to Australia’s acting captain.
A simple stumping for Paine then accounted for Kagiso Rabada on 20 and provided Nathan Lyon with his 300th Test wicket, making him the sixth Australian to reach that milestone. Seldom has such an achievement by an Australian resulted in a more subdued celebration. Lyon added another when Keshav Maharaj skied a catch, and Morne Morkel was the last man out, taken at gully off Hazlewood to end the innings on 373.
Philander finished unbeaten on 52, his eighth Test half-century, and Australia were going to need the highest successful chase in Test history to pull off a win. But the way things stand right now, it would earn them no respect whatsoever.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo