Australia v South Africa first Test: Day four takeaways

Australia were in firm control on Monday, looking good to dismantle the Proteas line-up in an attempt to win the first of three Tests at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban.

Heading into the fifth and final day of the clash to be played on Tuesday, the SA team had reached 102/4, still needing 319 runs to win.

All-round effort

Five of Australia’s top eight scored more than 30 runs each in their second innings, led by first-innings centurion Matt Renshaw, who contributed 82 runs off 99 balls.

Though nobody really knocked it out the park, the touring batters combined well as they carried their team to 314/6 before they declared at the tea break, leaving the Proteas chasing a monstrous target of 421 to win.

The hosts would need to pull off a historic performance, producing a world-record chase for victory, but they were more likely to try and dig deep in an attempt play out a draw.

A miracle required

At the close of play on day four, Aiden Markram was on 45 not out after facing 115 deliveries and Wiaan Mulder was unbeaten on five off 23.

If one of them fell on day five, the Proteas would be deep into the middle-order, and they would need to fight to the death to keep themselves afloat.

Depending on lower-order batters was likely to end poorly against an Australian attack that had performed well thus far in this Test.

More overs bowled

An ongoing debate around the match continued, as a full day of play was again impossible due to bad light.

Over the first three days, the total number of overs bowled was 65.2 on day one, 78.2 on day two and 75 on day three, well short of the required minimum 90 overs for a standard day of Test cricket.

On day four, 84.2 overs were bowled, which was better, but it won’t do much to end the debate about the need to play with a pink ball, start matches earlier in Durban in future, or not play Tests in Durban at all.