SKIPPER PAINE SHOWS METTLE

TIM Paine refused to fold meekly as he batted through the pain of a broken thumb last night in Johannesburg, topscoring and sharing Australia’s best stand yet in the four-Test series against South Africa.

The tourists were still staring at a landmark Test series loss to the Proteas shortly after lunch on day three of the fourth Test, folding for 221 to hand the hosts a first-innings buffer of 267 runs.

But Paine’s captain’s knock of 62 and Pat Cummins’s maiden Test half-century ensured Australia did not surrender in the fashion that many expected after it had collapsed to 6-96 on day two.

The visitors avoided the indignity of being asked to follow on, partly because of a side strain suffered by retiring paceman Morne Morkel.

The moral victory is likely to mean little in the context of the series, but Paine’s courage should impress plenty of fans still fuming over the cheating scandal that resulted in Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft returning home in shame.

Paine and Cummins put on 99 runs for the seventh wicket. Australia’s previous highest partnership on the tour was the 98-run opening stand between Warner and Bancroft in Port Elizabeth.

Paine, who has already created meaningful change by stopping the side’s sledging and introducing a pre-game handshake with the Proteas, batted with remarkable composure and freedom given the hairline fracture of his right thumb.

Paine’s dismissal, to a sensational diving catch from Dean Elgar in the deep, handed Kagiso Rabada a third wicket and ended the innings.

Cummins continues to prove the Wanderers is his favourite ground, backing up the second five-wicket haul of his Test career with a career-best knock of 50.

Morkel broke down during his 13th over of the innings, trudging off the ground.