Cape Town: The series decider at Newlands is heading for a box-office final day after Wiaan Mulder’s magnificent 115 and Ryan Rickelton’s 101 carried South Africa to 387 all out in their second innings, setting Australia 288 runs to win the match, the series and the world No. 1 Test ranking.
South Africa resumed day four on 140 for 4, already 40 runs ahead after conceding a 100-run first-innings deficit — Australia had replied to the hosts’ 329 with 429. What followed was a day of slow-burning resistance that turned, session by session, into a position of real strength. Only one wicket fell in the morning, Matthew Breetzke caught off Pat Cummins for 43, and only one more was lost across the entire afternoon session, as Rickelton and Mulder ground Australia down on a wearing Newlands pitch.
Rickelton, who had survived an lbw review on 39 in the morning, reached his century before being run out for 101, ending a sixth-wicket stand of 113 with Mulder that had carried South Africa from trouble to control. Mulder, meanwhile, produced the defining innings of the match: driving Nathan Lyon through extra cover to reach three figures, he roared, removed his helmet and soaked up a standing ovation from the Newlands crowd before finally holing out off Cummins for 115 off 221 balls, with just two balls left in the day’s play.
The late collapse — Gerald Coetzee run out by a direct hit from Marnus Labuschagne, Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer also falling — cost South Africa some runs, but 387 still left Australia with a chase of 288 on a fifth-day surface that is already showing wear. Josh Inglis had warned on Thursday that a chase of more than 200 would be difficult batting last here, and Australia must now defy that warning to take the series 2-1.
The stakes could hardly be higher. The series is level at 1-1 after Australia won the Durban opener by 214 runs and South Africa hit back with an innings-and-31-run victory in Gqeberha, and the winners of this match will take over the No. 1 spot in the Test rankings, currently held by Australia. South Africa need ten wickets; Australia need 288 runs. Day five at Newlands has everything on the line.
Read our day 3 report here: https://t20star.com/lyon-and-starc-strike-late-as-australia-seize-control-on-day-3-of-newlands-decider/
Brief scores: South Africa 329 & 387 (Wiaan Mulder 115, Ryan Rickelton 101; Pat Cummins 2-71) vs Australia 429. Australia need 288 runs to win.
