Ken Borland

Rain brought a premature end to the second day of the third Test between South Africa and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday, which one supposes the Proteas won’t be too unhappy about because the home side had piled up a massive 475/4 in their first innings.

There can surely only be one winner of the match now, following Usman Khawaja’s epic 195 not out and Steven Smith’s impressive 104, and so losing 49 overs across the first two days takes time out of the game and plays into the Proteas’ hands.

Khawaja and Smith feasted on the South African bowling as they added 209 for the third wicket, continuing their phenomenal record of major partnerships. That laid the table, with Australia on 356/3, for Travis Head who came to the crease and added the spices with a punishing 70 off just 59 balls, ensuring a tired bowling attack had no respite.

Khawaja will no doubt be asking for just a few more overs in which to post his maiden Test double-century before Australia declare, and then another wretched battle for survival will begin for the Proteas batsmen.

Their bowling has been put to the sword on the first two days, albeit on a tough pitch for bowling: there is little pace, no sideways movement to speak of and the turn is slow, allowing the batsmen, especially Khawaja, the time to play off the back foot to great effect.

Smith did eventually fall after collecting 11 fours and two sixes in 192 balls, giving Keshav Maharaj a return catch when the left-arm spinner produced a bit more flight.

Maharaj has otherwise been poor, conceding 108 runs in 25 overs, while off-spinner Harmer has been putting more revs on the ball and asking more questions, but without reward. He has borne the heaviest burden on a dry pitch, bowling 31 overs and conceding 109 runs.

Fast bowler Anrich Nortje did not add to his two wickets on the first day, but he was again South Africa’s most impressive bowler. Unfortunately, his fellow pacemen could not follow his lead. Young left-armer Marco Jansen was not quite at his best, but continues to market himself as one of the brightest talents in international cricket, bowling a fine spell with the second new ball. Kagiso Rabada is out-of-sorts and has conceded 119 runs in his 28 overs. He did get the wicket of Head, albeit with a short ball that required a sharp catch by 12^th man Rassie van der Dussen at deep square-leg.

Khawaja’s 368-ball innings, with 19 fours and a six, has been a super display of the craft of an opening batsman; he has shown great precision in both the selection and execution of his strokes and has put away the loose deliveries in elegant fashion.

A pair of effortless centuries by Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith lifted Australia to a huge 394 for three at tea on the second day of the third Test against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.

While left-handed opener Khawaja was still there at the break on a tremendously classy 172 not out, the Proteas were at least relieved to get rid of the prolific Smith for 104 just as he was really beginning to accelerate.

Khawaja scored his third successive century at the SCG, joining English legend Wally Hammond and Australian hero Doug Walters as the only other batsmen to do that. He and Smith added 209 for the third wicket after the home side began the day on 147 for two. The partnership not only thoroughly blunted the South African attack on a placid pitch but also continued the duo’s history of great stands together.

Smith did eventually fall after collecting 11 fours and two sixes in 192 balls, giving Keshav Maharaj a return catch when the left-arm spinner produced a bit more flight.

The in-form Travis Head then came to the crease and reached 17 not out at tea.

Spinners Maharaj and Simon Harmer have borne the heaviest burden on a dry pitch, both bowling 25 overs. But Maharaj has been poor, conceding 108 runs, while Harmer has been putting more revs on the ball and asking more questions, but so far without reward. He has at least conceded less than three runs an over (73).

Fast bowler Anrich Nortje did not add to his two wickets on the first day, but he was again South Africa’s most impressive bowler. Unfortunately, his fellow pacemen could not follow his lead. Young left-armer Marco Jansen was not quite at his best, but continues to market himself as one of the brightest talents in international cricket, bowling a fine spell with the second new ball. Kagiso Rabada is out-of-sorts and has conceded 94 runs in his 24 overs.

Khawaja’s 335-ball innings, with 17 fours and a six, has been a super display of the craft of an opening batsman; he has shown great precision in both the selection and execution of his strokes and has put away the loose deliveries in elegant fashion.

The TV umpire’s decision to disallow a slip catch by Simon Harmer and the onfield umpires’ handling of bad light were the main talking points after an abbreviated opening day of the third Test between Australia and South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

Only 47 overs were bowled on the first day, Australia reaching 147 for two. The second of those wickets was the dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne for 79, edging a phenomenal delivery with pace, bounce and nip away from Anrich Nortje that defied the sluggishness of the pitch. Unfortunately for the South African-born batsman, umpires Chris Gaffaney and Paul Reiffel then immediately took the players off the field for bad light, never to return.

Labuschagne had enjoyed a huge slice of luck though when he was on 70 and he edged left-armer Marco Jansen low to first slip, where Harmer seemed to have scooped up a fine catch.

Neither Labuschagne nor the umpires were 100% sure though, with third umpire Richard Kettleborough being called into play, the soft signal being out. Having watched numerous replays, the Englishman felt the ball had touched the ground, but a conclusive replay, zoomed in from the front, was strangely absent.

Labuschagne survived, and five minutes later, the crucial replay suddenly emerged and showed that Harmer did get his fingers under the ball. The incident raised suspicions about the host broadcaster interfering in the officiating of the game, but apparently the third umpire only had access to the world feed camera shots and the front-on slow-mo replay was exclusively a Channel 7 shot.

Nortje was adamant that Harmer had caught the catch.

“We all thought it was out, Simon was convinced that it had gone straight into his hands. The front angle replay I think showed that he had his fingers underneath the ball. So we were unfortunate not to get that one,” Nortje said.

“You’ve just got to try and focus again because feeling hard done by can quickly get out of hand. I just told Marco to try and refocus and stick to the basics. He bowled really well at that stage and we were able to feed off that energy.”

The in-form fast bowler had more sympathy for the umpires’ decision to stop play for bad light at 2.17pm local time, to again rule it was too dark just as the players were about to go back on to the field at 3.45pm, and then to stop play for the final time at 5.05pm.

“It’s tough and it was really dark at one stage,” Nortje said. “It’s not just about the batsmen, fielders start to not be able to pick up the ball in certain areas and you don’t want to drop a catch then.

“They were probably the right decisions, it’s about playing fair. With two guys bowling quickly and with the ball a bit harder, it can get unsafe. There was one bouncer from KG Rabada that was not picked up so well.”

Nortje was also the producer of the first wicket when he had David Warner caught by Jansen high at first slip off an attempted slash outside off stump.

It was not much more than a half-day at the office for the Proteas as they returned to action in the third Test against Australia, but it was already shaping up to be a day of toil as the home side reached 147 for two when bad weather stopped play at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

Only 47 overs were able to be played before the umpires controversially took the players off, for the second time, at 5.50pm, having earlier gone off at at 2.17pm local time. On both occasions the rain did then arrive, but the reluctance of the umpires to keep playing on a grey, overcast day was unfuriating.

That was far from the most contentious bit of decision-making on the opening day though. Shortly before the play was stopped, Marnus Labuschagne edged left-armer Marco Jansen low to first slip, where Simon Harmer seemed to have scooped up a fine catch.

Neither Labuschagne nor the umpires were 100% sure though, with third umpire Richard Kettleborough being called into play, the soft signal being out. Having watched numerous replays, the Englishman felt the ball had touched the ground, but the conclusive replay, zoomed in from the front, was strangely absent.

Labuschagne survived on 70, but five minutes later, the crucial replay suddenly emerged and showed that Harmer did get his fingers under the ball. One wonders why the host broadcaster could not have provided the telling replay when the TV umpire needed it.

Labuschagne added just nine more runs to his score before the lionhearted Anrich Nortje managed to drag some life out of a featherbed pitch, a phenomenal delivery with pace, bounce and away-nip being edged behind. His luck certainly turned as the umpires took the players off the field straight after his dismissal.

Usman Khawaja was playing a classy opening batsman’s knock with 54 not out, showing plenty of fine judgement in his stroke-selection, but also effectively putting away anything loose as he collected six fours. Steve Smith had just come to the crease but had not faced a ball yet.

Khawaja and Labuschagne added 135 for the second wicket in impressively efficient fashion, taking charge after lunch as they added 70 runs in 15 overs. In the morning session, Khawaja and Labuschagne had been focused on getting in and ensuring the advantage of winning the toss and batting on a dry, easy-paced pitch that offered little movement, was not squandered.

Nortje had been the supplier of South Africa’s other wicket on the first day, David Warner (10) edging high to Jansen at first slip as he played a rather loose slash outside off-stump.

The Proteas pacemen gave little away with the new ball, but the task became ever harder for them. Spinner Harmer provided some anxious moments for the left-handed Khawaja and he and Keshav Maharaj could be the key bowlers for the rest of the innings.

Harmer has replaced Lungi Ngidi in the attack, while South Africa have brought in Heinrich Klaasen for Theunis de Bruyn, who returned home for the birth of his first child.