Close South Africa 264 for 4 (Kallis 35*, Prince 8*) need another 71 runs to beat Australia
scorecard

After the tip-and-giggle madness of the first two days, day three at Kingsmead reverted to type: there were nearly 300 runs on a solid batting track, and six wickets in the day. The one big surprise was that by the close Australia were the team with the problems, after Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten added 142 for South Africa's first wicket, and Jacques Kallis with 35 not out had steadied the inevitable mid-innings jitters.

Set an improbable 335 to win, after Makhaya Ntini had wrapped up Australia's second innings with the wickets of Steve Waugh for 42 and Glenn McGrath first ball, South Africa sauntered to 216 for 1, stumbled to 232 for 4, then rallied to 264 for no further loss, with Kallis and Ashwell Prince gritting their teeth and blocking their ears to an ever-rowdier slip cordon. South Africa need just 71 runs from the fourth day's play, with six wickets standing. It doesn't sound a tall ask, but with Brett Lee and McGrath armed with the second new ball, and just Mark Boucher and Andrew Hall remaining of the recognised batsmen, this one will go down to the wire.

The one advantage of playing against Australia for the best part of a season, is that you learn that nothing is impossible. Australia defied history in making 331 to win at Cape Town, the tenth-highest run-chase of all time, and for a while in their second innings, Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten made batting look utterly effortless - no mean feat on a pitch that had delivered 17 wickets on the second day.

By lunch, the pair had whittled away 54 of those 335 runs, after rebuffing everything that McGrath and Lee could throw at them in a torrid opening burst. Gibbs was in particularly fluent mode, latching onto anything fractionally overpitched, particularly from Jason Gillespie, whom he cracked for four boundaries in his first two overs. Kirsten at the other end was his usual circumspect self. He was in no hurry to get off the mark, but eventually did so in fine style, lashing Lee for four through the covers, before caressing a ballooning off-stump bouncer to the third man boundary.

After lunch, the pair picked up where they had left off. McGrath was parsimonious, but Shane Warne leaked runs as he strove for the breakthrough. Kirsten lamped a Warne full toss through midwicket for four, before turning him to leg for another boundary, while Gibbs reached his second fifty of the match by carting a pair of overpitched deliveries from Warne through the covers. South Africa's first century opening partnership of these back-to-back series came when Kirsten clouted McGrath meatily over square leg for four.

Kirsten added his own fifty shortly afterwards, but just as Australia looked to be running out of ideas, he was run out in an horrendous communication breakdown. Gibbs set off for a quick single but changed his mind mid-stride, and Kirsten was stranded as Martyn at midwicket flung the ball at the base of the stumps. Lee dived, gathered and obliterated the wicket in one movement (142 for 1).

It was desperate luck for Kirsten. With two and a half days to play with, he seemed intent on dropping anchor and guiding South Africa to victory. But instead he passed the mantle to Gibbs, whose partnership of 74 with Graeme Smith was perhaps the most heartening event of a traumatic South African season. Gibbs had scored a flashy 51 in the first innings before giving it away when well set, but this time around he was abstention personified, refusing even to chase a wide half-volley from McGrath when on 96.

Gibbs tucked McGrath off his hips to move to 99, and endured a nervy drinks break before sweeping Shane Warne for a single to fine leg, to post his sixth and finest Test century, from 178 balls, with 15 carefully-selected boundaries. When Mark Waugh was introduced two overs later, it seemed like a last throw of the dice, and Graeme Smith greeted his arrival with a pair of boundaries to move into the 40s.

But then, inevitably, came the twist in the tail. Buoyed by this surge of runs, Smith launched into an injudicious hoick at Waugh, pirouetted in his follow-though, and looked on as Gilchrist jogged round from behind the stumps to pouch a huge top-edge (216 for 2). Moments later Gibbs (104) was gone as well, clipping Waugh into the vacant long-on region, only to find Damien Martyn streaking round the boundary to take another fine catch (218 for 3). And when Neil McKenzie swung flat-footedly at a big legbreak from Warne, Matthew Hayden ran back at midwicket and South Africa had lost three wickets in seven overs.

Ashwell Prince could have made that four in eight, when he came within a fingertip of a run-out, and one over later, while still on 0, he aimed a ghastly swish at Mark Waugh and might have been caught behind and bowled in one movement.

But the key figure was Jacques Kallis, and as his authority grew, so Prince's nerves settled. The pair had added 32 priceless runs by the close, and had seen off three overs of the new ball as well. The war may be over, but the battle rages on - and a heck of a lot of pride is at stake. Tomorrow will be fascinating. Teams
South Africa 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Gary Kirsten, 3 Graeme Smith, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Neil McKenzie, 6 Ashwell Prince, 7 Mark Boucher (capt & wk), 8 Andrew Hall, 9 Paul Adams, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 David Terbrugge.

Australia 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Mark Waugh, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Damien Martyn, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath.

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