Late wickets peg Proteas back

Four wickets after tea on day one limited the progress of the Proteas against Australia though they will still be reasonably pleased with their total of 313 for 6.
An Aiden Markram century put the home side on top in the fourth and final Test after they won the toss and elected to bat first.
Dean Elgar’s struggles against Nathan Lyon continued with the spinner getting him to hole out off the final ball of the 18th over for a dogged 19.
Markram was sublime when dominating the second wicket stand with Hashim Amla (27), the pair put on 91 before Amla slashed Pat Cummins to Peter Handscomb in the slips in the afternoon.
The opener went on to dominate his stand with AB de Villiers as well with the master middle-order man kept quite initially by some tidy bowling from Australia.
De Villiers went past 2000 runs in Test cricket against Australia maintaining an average in excess of fifty against the Proteas fiercest rivals.
They would add 105 runs for the third wicket but when Cummins got Markram (152) to slash at one outside off it triggered a mini-collapse.
The very next ball skipper Faf du Plessis (0) was trapped leg before not offering a shot to an inswinging ball.
After De Villiers (69) and Temba Bavuma steadied matters Chadd Sayers came back into the attack with the new ball and removed the set man who reviewed believing he hadn’t nicked the ball but ultra-edge registered a spike and he had to go, two balls later nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada (0) was on his way as well.
With Quinton de Kock (7*) joining Bavuma (25*), Lyon was reintroduced but neither he nor Sayers (2/64) could pick up another before stumps.
Latest
-
News
Kevin O’Brien says century against England helped Ireland ‘reach for the stars’
O’Brien hit a 50-ball 113 as Ireland chased down a target of 328 in the 2011 World Cup.
-
News
Ian Harvey is Gloucestershire interim coach after Richard Dawson joins England
Dawson has accepted the position of ECB elite pathway coach
-
News
Marcus Trescothick, Jon Lewis and Jeetan Patel join England’s coaching staff
Trescothick has left his assistant’s role at Somerset.
-
News
Ben Foakes focuses on squaring the series with England
The tourists are 2-1 down going into the final Test against India.
-
News
Stonewall praises Steven Davies and warns ‘attitudes need to shift across sport’
The 34-year-old wicketkeeper announced he was gay 10 years ago.
-
News
Charlotte Edwards backs women’s cricket to keep ‘growing and growing’
On Thursday Edwards became the first female president of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.
-
News
Heather Knight ‘frustrated’ as England lose final ODI in New Zealand
Defeat ended a run of 10 straight wins across all formats for England
-
News
Jonathan Trott warns England not to get ‘too desperate’ against India spinners
The duo have taken a combined 42 wickets in the series so far.
-
News
Darren Gough fears England could be on the end of another hiding by India
Gough knows all about two-day Test wins.
-
News
Chris Silverwood hopes England batsmen can learn from quickfire third-Test loss
Silverwood would not be drawn into criticising the pitch.