SA and Australia locked in decisive third Test

ELLEGANT is not one of the first adjectives to comes to mind when describing Proteas opening batsman Dean Elgar.

But yesterday the South African dressing-room had reason to be thankful for the hard-nosed fight in the compact lefthander as his undefeated 121 was the main reason his team were not really in dire straits in the third Test against Australia.

For two sessions the home side’s decision to take first strike was being vindicated, with a score of 220/2 at one point. Elgar and AB de Villiers were in control, but then fast bowler Pat Cummins decided to change the narrative.

He was simply brilliant yesterday afternoon, charging in barrel-chested from the Wynberg End unchanged for eight bustling overs.

The special effort yielded four wickets for just 12 runs, decimating the South African middle-order in the process, and gave Australia the advantage on an opening day that had seemed to belong to the hosts at the tea interval.

The only blot on this beautiful Cummins storyline is that television replays have showed the Australian fast bowler stepping on the ball with his boot near the end of the second session.

Cummins vehemently denied any skulduggery at the after-day press conference, but it remains the latest instalment in a series that has been marred by players issued with demerit points for “bringing the game into disrepute”.

“What do you want me to say? It’s a mistake,” Cummins retorted.

“I looked straight back at him (the umpire) and he just started to giggle because it was obviously very unintentional. Obviously there were no issues, so he passed it on.”

It was, though, a tribute to Elgar’s lionhearted spirit that he continued to blunt Cummins’ reverse-swing, and the rest of the Australian attack for that matter, through sheer bloody-mindedness.

Yesterday’s Elgar display was a bit more easy on the eye than his innings usually are. Take the three cover-drives for four in a Mitchell Marsh over before lunch.

Personally it was also a century to savour after previously not being able to replicate the form that made him the fifth highest run-scorer in Test cricket last year.

“I think the wicket is by no means flat. It might have looked like that when AB was batting. I think they identified certain areas where they exploit most batsmen,” Elgar said.

“The old ball was reversing, which makes batting a lot more trickier. It was tough out there, especially when you have a new batter in. But the minute you had a few wickets fall, it is going to be tough.

“I think that that is why ultimately there was a lot of emotion in the celebration. Going back to previous series, against India it was a bit of an up-and-down series for me, and I didn’t think I had accomplished as a player for the side what I wanted to.

“It was important for me to do it in the first two Tests against Oz, and slowly but surely I was slowly finding myself in preparation and be the player that I am.”

For all of Elgar’s stubbornness and brief brilliance of De Villiers, who contributed yet another rapid half-century to the series, the concerns are growing louder about South Africa’s fragile middle-order.

A collapse that saw six wickets fall for 48 runs that changed the match-situation from 220/2 to 266/8 included yet another failure from captain Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and the returning Temba Bavuma. On a pitch where a minimum first innings total of 400 would seem to be par, Elgar’s work may be far from over.

“The way it was going at tea I thought we were looking at 380-400. You just can’t afford to play loose cricket.

“Cummins was a big threat throughout the day, especially when it reversers, and he kept us on our toes all day.

“He got a few wickets at the end there and ultimately brought Australia back into this game.”