Australian fast bowler Peter Siddle picked up his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket which helped reduce South Africa to 327 on day three of the ongoing third and final Test of the series. In reply, the hosts were 33 for no loss at the end of six overs.Resuming the day on their overnight score of 125/1, the Proteas kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were stuttering at 193/5 before Mark Boucher and Morne Morkel brought up the rearguard attack.Hashim Amla reached yet another half century in Tests but fell soon after, whereas his overnight partner Jacques Kallis only managed 37. match-winners from the previous Test, AB de Villiers (11) and JP Duminy (13) too were out cheaply. But just when South Africa looked to be in dire straits, Boucher and Morkel put up a match-saving 111-run partnership for the sixth wicket.Boucher scored 89 with Morkel, who put up a resilient 40, before Peter Siddle struck four times in four overs to clean up the South Africa tailenders. Paul Harris and Dale Steyn completed Siddle’s tally of five for 59 – his best figures in Test cricket.Mitchell Johnson picked up two wickets while debutant AB McDonald picked up one.Australian openers Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich started on a positive note with the former smashing two boundaries in the third and fourth ball of the innings. At the end of the day, both Hayden and Katich were unbeaten at the crease after scoring 18 and 9 runs respectively.makhaya Ntini and Steyn bowled the first six overs of the day before the umpires signaled the end of day’s play.Australia currently leads South Africa by151 runs with 10 wickets in hand. With two days more yet to follow in this Test match, Australia seems to be in a commanding position from where it can look to avoid its first home-series whitewash in over a hundred years of Test cricket after trailing the Proteas 2-0.
No comments:
Post a Comment