Where a win is already nearly out of question for the Australian side, a draw could have offered a sigh of relief to them. However, Australia are pretty much on the verge of missing out on that chance too as they have a whole day ahead of them to fight against the South African bowling attack with 7 wickets remaining.

Seven wickets could have been a good asset in this situation but the way the Aussies have batted without three of their most reliable batsmen, it seems to be a matter of time before the Proteas seal their first home Test-series win against the Baggy Greens since readmission.

The fourth day of the Test was a total Faf-show as the South Africa skipper picked up a century to pile up more pressure on the Kangaroos. Francois resumed the day’s play alongside Dean Elgar and went on to play an innings of 120 runs, laced with 18 fours and 2 sixes.

Elgar made 81 runs and following his departure, Quinton de Kock was removed for 4 runs. However, Temba Bavuma and Vernon Philander stitched a 71-run partnership and prevented further wicket-loss until South Africa declared their innings at 344/6.

Pat Cummins, with the wickets of du Plessis and de Kock, completed his four-fer while Nathan Lyon took the other wicket of the day.

In response, the top-order of the Aussies stumbled as Morne Morkel and Keshav Maharaj shone for the rainbow nation. Morkel dismissed Matthew Renshaw and Usman Khawaja while Maharaj sent Joe Burns back to the hut.

Joe Burns' 43-run knock saved Australia from crumbling for a while as the other two dismissed batsmen couldn’t even reach the double-digits score. Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh remained unbeaten until stumps and will continue their innings on day-5.

Handscomb has made 23 runs while Marsh has scored 7. Australia are now on a score of 88/3 and will need 524 more runs to clinch a victory over the hosts.

 

RSA - 488/10 & 344/6 decl.