South Africa defy the doubters and Australia to close in on remarkable Test triumph

Independent

16 hours ago

South Africa have known many a false dawn in the pursuit of the sunlit uplands of cricketing triumph but finally the time may be nigh to bask in their glory. Improbably, impossibly, a Test title is within reach for Temba Bavuma 's men, defying the doubters, the odds and Australia to inch towards a glorious tale of redemption and renaissance.
Oh, Test cricket, you beautiful, beguiling thing. The conventional wisdom was of a third day that hastened towards an inevitable finish with Australia's place on their perch still secure. South Africa, the critics said, shouldn't even have been here; their route too soft, the road too straightforward. Come the crunch, Australia would put them back in their box, one of the big boys battering back the upstarts to remind them of their place in the pecking order.
But score 69 more and the Proteas will shatter the establishment. Declarations of the death of Test cricket in the country that accompanied the decision to send a second-string to New Zealand at the start of last year were clearly misguided, a marvellous revival since threatening to culminate with a long-awaited coronation. Given all that has come before, the many stumbles and suffocations, the intoxicating nectars of hope and belief will not be easily imbibed by the South African public but the heady air of the metaphorical mountaintop is within sight.
Their chief sherpa has been Aiden Markram, a hundred of all sorts of significance made in style, stiff-collared shirt as perfectly presented as the crisp flow of his bat face. He moved within a shot of his century here with a straight drive of immaculate conception, before reaching three figures with a clip to the midwicket boundary, celebrated with a glance to the skies above for an innings that felt heaven-sent.
Markram had been earmarked for great things ever since leading South Africa to their only U19 World Cup win as captain and player of the tournament. His position in the order and performances have since bounced up and down, but this so far has been a masterpiece. In Bavuma (65), he has the perfect ally, the captain overcoming a cramping body and the immense weight of expectation to lead his side ever closer after Steve Smith had dropped him at slip on two. They will reunite tomorrow with their partnership unbroken on 143 and a remarkable victory near.
Only a Gordon Greenidge-inspired West Indies in 1984 had ever chased more than 282 in the fourth innings at Lord's, the task tall after a morning of toil. Having removed Nathan Lyon in the opening few overs, a quick curtailment appeared certain but a becalmed deck and stodgy stand for the last wicket meant South Africa had to graft. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood 's extended stay came perhaps even as a surprise to them, taking advantage with the pressure easing ever so slightly as the top order and captain begin to contemplate the challenge to come rather than focussing on the one still at hand.
An anxious Bavuma was clearly fearing the sort of rapid runs that would have quickly put the kibosh on their thoughts of a fourth-innings chase, but kind fields nonetheless allowed Starc and Hazlewood to accumulate anyway, the former taking his opportunities to push the pace in a measured knock. The fact that he should have been back in the hutch late last night – Marco Jansen was a notable absentee from the slip cordon having both suffered a thumb injury and shelled a simple catch late on in day two – was salt in sores beginning to really fester.
It did, however, provide cause for encouragement in the South African ranks, suggesting a surface upon which runs could still be readily made. By the time Hazlewood clapped a Keshav Maharaj long hop straight to cover, Starc had faced 136 balls for his 58, the second-longest innings of his Test career lifting Australia's advantage to 281.
It took just seven deliveries for him to make an impact once back armed with the tools of his primary trade as a lavish outswinger drew the edge of Ryan Rickleton. Yet where Australia had tortured the top order with their array of implements in the first innings, South Africa were able to ease back in the armchair in the second as Aiden Markram and Wiaan Mulder settled in under the scorching summer sun.
Sweet early dreams of victory were shattered, though, as Mulder limply lifted Starc to cover, and Bavuma should have been gone swiftly, too. An edge would have been swallowed simply by Smith if he hadn't been under a lid at first slip trying to avoid one falling short off a slowing surface; as it was, a rushed Smith fumbled and tumbled awkwardly, departing in discomfort with a finger dislocation just as painful as the drop. 'You've just dropped the World Cup,' Steve Waugh once told Herschelle Gibbs; perhaps Smith spilled this final.
Bavuma was soon struggling, too, a dodgy hamstring leaving him hobbling every run. But hobble he did as his partnership with Markram grew; first to 20, then 50, and onwards too, the 100 stand brought up with a boundary that just evaded Sam Konstas at deep square-leg. His slight frame has shouldered the burdens of a great many responsibilities in a career defined as much by who he is as what he does – the first Black African captain of his country may yet be a history-maker in a different sense.