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Australia vs South Africa 5th Day Highlights SCG 3rd Test Cricket

Cricket Highlights: SA vs Australia 3rd Sydney Test Day 5. Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Graeme Smith and Paul Harris dramatically drag the test match into the 2nd last over of the day. When Mitchell Johnson bowled Smith, SA were short of a stunning draw by 5 minutes/ 10 balls.

A win today was never really on, so though AB de Villiers got a half century, his wicket just before tea saw Harris and Steyn having to guts it out for a while with the lightning-weather looming around the SCG giving them hope. Ntini then came out and did a Courtney Walsh (with Brian Lara years ago). Only Ntini did it longer and better.

Watching Makhaya and Steyn was breathtaking – Steyn continued to play his shots while Ntini played like he knew his three stumps better than any top batsman: every ball on the stumps hit the middle of the bat and every ball outside offstump was played and missed perfectly.

Graeme Smith who was sitting in the balcony changed into his test match clothes when it came down to 20 odd overs left. When Steyn was finally out, the SCG gave Smith a standing ovation as he walked out despite his broken finger/part of the hand just above the little finger. That’s his left hand. The right elbow was also damaged and though he deserves all the credit he has been getting, he probably had no choice anyhow, considering the Steyn-Ntini stand.

Mitchell Johnson who broke Smith’s hand bowled his first 4 balls to Smith on a leavable line and got booed in the process. But he eventually got him with 10 deliveries left in the day with a super ball and what could have been a sensational draw ended in a loss for SA much like it did a year back for India at the same ground – though this was a deserved win for Australia unlike a year back where it was handed to them by Bucknor and Benson

Boucher got a poor decision that probably didn’t matter in the end. On the Aussie front, Matthew Hayden was probably the happiest with the win, not because it might give him another shot at test cricket but because he dropped Ntini a few overs before the game eventually ended.

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Part 2

SA vs Australia SCG Day 4 Cricket Highlights 3rd Sydney Test

Cricket highlights: Australia vs South Africa 3rd Sydney (SCG) test, 4th day’s play.

Scoreline: Australia 257/4 declared. South Africa in pursuit of 376: 62/1.

Matthew Hayden played some of his trademark strokes en route to his highest score in recent times (39). Australia through useful knocks by Ricky Ponting (53), Michael Clarke (41) and Mike Hussey (45) pushed the target and then declared – a declaration based on the dicey pitch, Graeme Smith’s unavailability and the safe notion that getting 300 runs on Day 5 is tough – even during the Perth Test Day 5, SA needed only 187 runs on the final day.

Matthew Hayden was given a rousing sendoff after he fell, by the SCG crowd, considering it’s upto the selectors to decide if that was indeed his last knock for Australia. If good sense prevails it shouldn’t be. Especially when you consider the return of Simon Katich to glorious form today – over the last few days, everyone (or at least I) have been stunned by his strokeplay. Today, Katich regained his touch by not scoring a single run for an hour at one stage. The eventual streaky single that ended his supreme form had all his fans disappointed and led to a moment of acrimony between Ntini and Boucher.

Just as Day 3 had a bizarre bunch of moments, Day 4 too had a couple:

Hashim Amla played some stunning drives on his way to 30 not out as South Africa after the fall of Morkel (sent in as opener) felt their way around this chase.

Australia vs South Africa, 3rd Test Day 3, Live Cricket