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Jansen's five-for routs Australia for 99 as South Africa close in at Gqeberha
Australia lost 13 wickets on a chaotic fourth day, were made to follow on 326 behind and finished on 156 for 4. Travis Head's unbeaten 87 is all that stands between South Africa and a series-levelling win.
Key points
- Australia were bowled out for 99 in their first innings, with Marco Jansen taking 5 for 33.
- South Africa enforced the follow-on with a lead of 326 runs.
- Australia closed on 156 for 4, still 170 behind, with Travis Head unbeaten on 87.
South Africa need six wickets on the final day to level the series against Australia, after a remarkable fourth day at St George’s Park on Wednesday in which 13 wickets fell and the visitors were made to follow on.
Australia were bowled out for 99 in reply to South Africa’s 425 for 9 declared. Temba Bavuma enforced the follow-on with a lead of 326, and by stumps Australia had reached 156 for 4, still 170 runs behind. Travis Head was unbeaten on 87, and Scott Boland had again come in as nightwatchman and survived.
Jansen’s morning
The collapse began almost at once. Boland, the nightwatchman from Tuesday evening, edged Marco Jansen to Ryan Rickelton early in the day, and a fierce spell from the left-arm quick left Australia 6 for 65. Marnus Labuschagne made 14 before Simon Harmer took a sharp one-handed catch at slip off Anrich Nortje, the first of two good catches in the cordon for the off-spinner.
Steve Smith stayed 88 balls for 28, the top score of the innings, before he fell to Wiaan Mulder. Nobody else passed 14. Jansen finished with 5 for 33, and Mulder and Kagiso Rabada took two wickets each.
Having made 85 with the bat on Tuesday, Jansen became only the second South African since readmission to score a fifty and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test against Australia.
Australia’s 99 was their lowest first-innings total in a Test since they were dismissed for 85 in Hobart in 2016, and their third-lowest in South Africa, after 47 at Cape Town in 2011 and 75 at Durban in 1950. It was only the third time since 1988 that Australia have been asked to follow on.
Head digs in
The second innings was a different story for a while. Rabada removed Nic Maddinson early, but Head and Labuschagne added 92 for the second wicket before Harmer had Labuschagne for 39. Rabada then bowled Matt Renshaw, and Harmer trapped Beau Webster lbw, finishing the day with 2 for 47.
Head played with unusual restraint, making his slowest Test fifty in three years, and will resume 13 short of a hundred. Australia will be without Smith, who could not bat in the second innings because of a neck problem that troubled him throughout his first-innings stay. South Africa have their own worry: Nortje left the field with a right groin injury.
What happens on Thursday
Australia lead the three-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Durban by 214 runs. Rain cost large parts of the first two days here, but South Africa now have a full day to take six wickets. Australia must bat through it to take their lead to the final Test at Newlands in Cape Town, which begins on 27 October.