Openers dismissed playing loose shots

South Africa risk throwing away a major advantage after losing three wickets in the afternoon session, two to loose strokes from their opening batters.

After dominating in the morning, when they scored 140 runs in 27 overs, the Proteas looked rattled at 221/4 at tea, with David Bedingham on 41 and Ryan Rickelton, still new to the crease on 2, needing to consolidate.

Having worn hangdog expressions as they walked off at lunch, the Australians had a pep in their step two hours later, with both Marques Ackerman and Aiden Markram giving away their wickets.

Ackerman, who was dropped off the second ball after lunch by Nathan Lyon in his follow-through, learnt no lessons from that let-off and two overs later was stumped attempting to blast the Australian off-spinner over the covers.

It was silly batting, and the last thing Shukri Conrad would have advised at lunch. Could it have been nerves with a hundred in sight? Given his form in the last year, one wouldn’t expect that to be the case.

It had been an aggressive innings, full of audacious strokeplay — but to get out in the manner he did so soon after the break, with a hundred there for the taking, was irresponsible.

Ackerman scored 95 and will have difficulty falling asleep as he ponders the five runs he didn’t score and the frenetic way he chased them. The 158-run opening-wicket partnership looks good on paper, but if Australia contrive to win this match, there’ll be a lot of pondering over what could have been.

Markram will have similar regrets about a loose pull short against Josh Hazlewood that was top-edged to deep backward square leg, where Mitchell Starc held a good diving catch. Markram had looked like he was in for the long haul, showing the kind of patience one expects from a senior player. He then inexplicably threw it away when he had 78.

That opened the door for the tourists, with Lyon bowling last week’s hero Temba Bavuma with a peach that was beautifully flighted and which the South African captain thought would spin but instead drifted past the outside edge and onto the off-stump.

It was the third time Bavuma had fallen to off-spin in the series, and the second time to Lyon. The only Test in which he didn’t, Lyon wasn’t playing and Bavuma made 179.

Five minutes before tea, it turned worse for the South Africans, with Matthew Breetzke trapped lbw for 2 to give Cooper Connolly, one of four changes to the Australian team for this Test, his first wicket.

Breetzke was late in bringing his bat down and umpire Richard Kettleborough, standing in his 100th Test, didn’t raise his finger. But the Australians correctly chose to review, with the television replays showing the ball had struck the pad fractionally before meeting the bat.

The Proteas lost 4/81 in 26 overs in the middle session. Australia was understandably over the moon and the travails of the morning are now long forgotten, with a compelling final session in the offing.