Sydney [Australia], January 7 (ANI): Australia's Pat Cummins combined with Josh Hazlewood to wreak havoc on South Africa with a sensational spell late on day four, after they declared their first innings on the overnight score of 475/4 in pursuit of a cleap sweep in the third and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
After another three hours of rain and bad light robbed game time in Sydney, Australia skipper Pat Cummins declared and decided to ave a go at the visitors with the ball.
Cummins (3-29) and Josh Hazlewood (2-29) ripped through the Proteas top-order to leave them at 149/6 on stumps on Day 4, with a minimum of 98 overs to be bowled on day five on Sunday.
South Africa were still well short of their follow-on target at stumps. Despite losing four consecutive sessions due to rain, Australia will be optimistic about completing a series sweep to make the World Test Championship final in June.
Cummins boosted the Aussie hopes with late wickets of Khaya Zondo and Kyle Verreynne, leaving South Africa in a precarious position. There is only a slight chance of rain in Sydney on Sunday and Australia will, possibly, have a full day to complete a series win.
The Australian bowled a superb spell in damp conditions, extracting uneven bounce from around the wicket. Cummins produced a cracker of a full delivery after threatening with the short ball to trap Zondo lbw for 39 after the batter unsuccessfully reviewed the call.
He nearly repeated his delivery to Marco Jansen, but the ball landed outside the leg stump before striking the pads. Cummins, who looked like getting a wicket of practically every ball, had Verreynne caught at slip after delivering a brilliant length delivery from over the wicket.
With a wicked short delivery gloved to wicketkeeper Alex Carey, he had previously picked up Heinrich Klaasen, whose lone prior Test match was against India in 2019.
Josh Hazlewood was also impressive, picking up the wickets of skipper Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma. Hazlewood, who was picked over Scott Boland, repaid the selectors' faith despite suffering a side injury against the West Indies in the first Test of the home season.
Elgar was particularly bothered by his nasty short-pitched offerings, and eventually knicked to the keeper. In what has been a dreadful series, Elgar has only scored 46 runs in five innings.
In the final session, Hazlewood removed Bavuma, who meekly edged a length delivery, bringing a premature end to a promising inning. He batted aggressively at times, hitting spinner Nathan Lyon for a couple of sixes before tea, but was dismissed for 35.
Ashton Agar, the left-arm spinner, bowled just seven overs and failed to pose a threat in his first Test match since 2017 and his first in Australia.
After Cummins' declaration after lunch, opener Usman Khawaja remained on his highest Test score of 195. Apart from Khawaja, the only other two batsmen to have been in the 190s when their captains declared an inning are Frank Worrell and Sachin Tendulkar.
Matthew Renshaw was playing his first Test match since 2018, having tested positive for Covid-19 prior to the start of play on day one. He had negative quick antigen testing on Friday and on Saturday morning.
Brief Scores: South Africa 149/6 (Zondo 39; Cummins 3-29, Hazlewood 2-29) trail Australia 475/4 declared (Khawaja 195, Smith 104; Nortje 2-55) by 326 runs (ANI)
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