Date-stamped : 13 May94 - 18:24 South Africa vs Australia, 3rd test. Played at Kingsmead, Durban, 25-29 March 1994. ====> Day 1, 25 Mar 94 South Africa had Australia in a lot of trouble midway through the first day but just couldn't deliver the knockout blow. Kepler Wessels won the toss for the 3rd time in a row and sent Australia in to bat on a pitch which gave the South African seamers a bit more the help than the wicket in Cape Town did last week. The weather was typical for Durban at this time of year: hot and humid with a very light breeze providing little relief from the heat. South Africa took 2 wickets before lunch and another 3 after the interval to have Australia in trouble at 123/5 and desperately needing somebody to steady the innings and prop up the tail. The first wicket to fall was that of Mark Taylor who was trapped lbw by Donald bowling over the wicket. Wickets 2, 3 and 4 were almost handed to South Africa on a plate as first Slater and then Boon and Border were out playing unnecessary shots. Slater got a short ball outside off stump and tried to cut it over the head of point. He didn't hit it hard or high enough and Jonty Rhodes took a fairly comfortable catch. Soon after lunch David Boon turned one to square leg but didn't manage to keep it down and Gary Kirsten was waiting there to take the catch. Border then tried to hook McMillan out of the ground but didn't hit the ball well enough to clear Jonty Rhodes who, somewhat unusually, was fielding at deep mid-wicket. It was Rhodes, more than anybody else, who was probably responsible for the next wicket to fall. He made a series of brilliant stops at point off balls that almost certainly would have reached the boundary if anyone else had been fielding in that position. By denying Mark Waugh those runs he seemed to unsettle Waugh who soon after played at a Donald away-swinger and was caught behind. At 123/5 half way through the 1st day things looked bleak for Australia. The needed somebody to stick around and the two men who did the job for them were Steve Waugh and Ian Healy. Waugh and Healy shared a partnership of 92 runs and together they steered Australia to a fairly repectable score. Healy was the more aggressive of the two and scored his second successive half century against South Africa. He was bowled shortly before the close of play but Steve Waugh is still there and will continue tomorrow with Paul Reiffel. For South Africa, Allan Donald made up for his disappointing bowling in Cape Town with some good hostile fast bowling and was rewarded with 3 wickets. De Villers, in contrast, didn't bowl as well as we know he can and is obviously still feeling the effects of the virus he picked up last week. Matthews was as accurate as ever while McMillan was a bit loose at times. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 2, 26 Mar 94 Andrew Hudson and Gary Kirsten put together a century opening stand to launch South Africa's bid for a first innings lead over Australia. But a three wicket haul for just 18 runs by Aussie pacemen Paul Reiffel and Craig McDermott checked the home side's progress. After tea Hansie Cronje and Peter Kirsten put up the shutters and by the close South Africa had reached 143-3, 126 behind. Earlier Australia had lost their last four wickets for just 28 runs to be all out for 269. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 2, MORE This was a thoroughly absorbing day of test cricket. South Africa dominated the two hour session before lunch as they took the last 4 Australian wickets for just 28 runs and then reached 47/0 by the interval. Resuming at 241/6, Australia lasted just 55 minutes as de Villiers and Matthews both picked up two wickets. First to go was Reiffel who fell lbw to de Villiers. Warne didn't last long before he guided a ball to Wessels at first slip. Wessels was in action again soon after when Steve Waugh tried to cut one that was too close to him and succeeded only in edging it to slip. With 9 wickets down and McGrath at the other end, McDermott was always going to have a slog. He hit one extremely high and Donald seemed to wait forever before taking a good catch at long off. Chasing an Australian 1st innings total of 269, South Africa started well and at lunch they were 47/0 after 13 overs with Hudson in sparkling form. McDermott bowled only 2 overs for 12 runs before Border took him off. After lunch South Africa struggled against some superb bowling by Australia. McDermott was the pick of the bowlers in this session and was extremely unlucky not to pick up 2 or 3 wickets. He bothered Gary Kirsten who was struggling with his timing and just couldn't seem to find the gaps in the field. South Africa only lost 1 wicket in this session but they also scored only 53 runs which indicates how Australia managed to restrict their scoring. Hudson was out in the final over before tea for yet another good innings of 65. After tea South Africa quickly lost the wickets of Gary Kirsten and Kepler Wessels as they slumped from 100/0 to 118/3 and the good work of the openers had been undone. With almost 90 minutes left to the close, Hansie Cronje and Peter Kirsten were determined not to lose their wickets even if it meant not scoring runs. They had to put up with inspired bowling by McDermott and the usual nagging legspin of Warne but somehow or other saw South Africa through to the close without losing anymore wickets. This last session was a real war of attrition and was test cricket at its best. At stumps South Africa were 143/3 which means they are 126 runs behind Australia with 7 wickets still standing and will have to bat a lot quicker on the 3rd day if the hope to put Australia under any sort of pressure. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 3, 27 Mar 94 South Africa employed their now familiar tactics of first ensuring that they can't lose the game before going on to try win it. They ground along at barely 2 runs an over throughout the 3rd day, scoring just 179 runs in 5 hours and 25 minutes before bad light brought a premature end to the days play. Hansie Cronje started brightly enough but after 25 minutes seemed to lose his head and tried to hit Warne out of the ground but he succeeded in doing was slicing the ball to Steve Waugh at point. South Africa were 155/4 and still 114 runs adrift of Australia's score but they made Australia wait over 3 hours before they took their next wicket. Peter Kirsten and Jonty Rhodes built a valuable partnership of 102 runs as they edged towards the Australian 1st innings score. Kirsten was batting painfully slowly and was on target to score the slowest fifty in South African history when he was trapped lbw on 49 soon after the mid-afternoon drinks break. Rhodes and Brian McMillan then took South Africa past Australia's score shortly before the tea interval and with only 5 wickets down. Jonty Rhodes can consider himself somewhat unlucky to go out just before tea. It was the over leading up to tea and Shane Warne was bowling. Warne bowled the last ball of the over, over-pitched slightly and Rhodes belted the ball through the covers for 4. That took us to tea, or so we thought until we saw the umpire signalling no-ball. So, Rhodes had to face another ball which predictably was a flipper and caught him lbw. A disappointment for South Africa but it was the last wicket they were to lose before the close of play. After tea Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson extended South Africa's 1st innings lead to 53 runs before bad light stopped play 35 minutes early. For me, the highlight of the day was the 78 scored by Rhodes and also, to a lesser extent, the aggression that McMillan is showing when playing Warne. The pitch is still good for batting and the outcome of the game rests firmly in the hands of the remaining South African batsmen. Tomorrow they will probably be looking to extend their lead to well over 100 before putting Australia in to bat again. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 4, 28 Mar 94 There is still an outside chance that South Africa can win this test but, given the good state of the pitch, the chances are good that Australia can bat their way to a draw. Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson resumed this morning and continued to frustrate Australia by batting right through till after the lunch interval. Together they put on 143 runs to record the highest partnership of the series and thereby ensure that Australia would have to bat out most of the remainder of the test to avoid defeat. Richardson was dropped by Healy shortly after lunch but it wasn't an expensive drop because Richardson was caught in the covers soon afterwards as he tried to hit Warne over the top. This wicket precipitated the sort of tail-end collapse which has been fairly common throughout this series and the last 3 wickets fell in the space of 12 balls. McMillan was eventually out for a well played 84 which included some positive strokes against Warne. During the 1st innings of the Newlands test it seemed as if McMillan didn't have any idea on how to play Warne but he now appears to have worked out a method which works for him. It is good to see him scoring runs again. So, all out for 422 scored in over 200 overs, South Africa took a 153 run lead on the first innings. Australia came in to bat and were obviously in no hurry to score runs. Slater, who is normally quite aggressive, was fairly subdued although this might have been as a result of the chance he gave to Peter Kirsten in the 2nd over. After that dropped catch he played with a lot more caution and reached his 50 shortly before the close. Mark Taylor, in the meantime, had been trapped lbw by de Villiers for a very slow 12 runs - his second low score of the match. Boon came in next but didn't last too long before he cut a short ball from Donald straight to Peter Kirsten in the gully. With 3 overs left till the close Australia didn't want to risk Mark Waugh so they sent in Shane Warne as the night watchman. Warne and Slater will resume tomorrow with the Australian score on 89/2. Australia are still 64 runs short of making South Africa bat again and have been scoring at less than 2 runs an over in their 2nd innings. This ultra-defensive batting by Australia might very well play into the hands of South Africa as happened in the Sydney test. Anyway, to win South Africa need to take 8 wickets as cheaply as possible while Australia will be looking to bat out most of day to prevent this happening. It is raining here in Durban as I type this (9 o'clock in the evening) and the weather forecast for tomorrow is for more rain. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 5, 29 Mar 94 Australia batted right through the 5th day and forced the draw. The highlight of the day was the century of Mark Waugh who scored 113* and earned himself the man of the match award. South Africa needed to take early wickets if they were to win this game but they were thwarted by Michael Slater, Allan Border and Mark Waugh. Night watchman Warne didn't last long but after he went Slater scored 95 and then Border and Mark Waugh shared an unbeaten stand of 140 to ensure the draw for Australia. In the end South Africa didn't leave themselves enough time to bowl Australia out on a pitch which didn't offer much help to the fast bowlers. A more positive approach to their batting would have given them a lot more time to force a result. As it was, things came to a fairly tame end at 16:10 on the last afternoon with Jonty Rhodes, of all people, bowling a maiden over. Steve Waugh won the man of the series award for his consistent scoring and also the match winning bowling performance he turned in at Newlands. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za)