Proteas stand tall to grind out third-Test draw

For the third time in as many Sydney 'summers', the combination of obdurate opposition batting and an equally stubbornly benign SCG pitch has denied Australia's bowlers the final-day victory they so keenly sought.

Having been stalled by some spirited lower-order resistance in the Proteas first innings, Australia ripped through the last three wickets for the addition of three runs which rendered South Africa 220 runs in arrears and 21 runs shy of the follow-on, which was duly enforced.

It also left Pat Cummins' team a minimum of 47 overs and around three and a half hours to claim 10 second innings wickets to snatch victory, a challenge that proved beyond them with South Africa finishing 2-106 when players shook hands at 5.22pm under bright afternoon sun.

It meant Australia claimed the NRMA Insurance Series 2-0 with Usman Khawaja named player of the match for his unbeaten 195 and David Warner player of the series after his 200 in Melbourne.

And after their 2-0 trouncing of West Indies, they finish their second consecutive home Test summer undefeated and end the Proteas' run of three successive series wins in Australia.

Ultimately the loss of almost two full days to rain ensured an outright result was never going to be achieved, although Australia surely felt a string of close umpiring calls that fell in the tourists' favour over the final hours might have made their eventual second innings score decidedly skinnier.

Throughout a final session characterised by sharp turn gained from the deteriorating surface by Nathan Lyon, and pronounced reverse swing from Josh Hazlewood that offered promising signs for the upcoming Qantas Tour of India, Australia's desperate push for wickets went unrewarded.

Having been denied two line-ball lbw shouts earlier in the day that were deemed to be umpire's call after given not out on-field, Lyon was certain he had rival number three batter Heinrich Klaasen plumb in front to a ball that speared from the rough and struck the right-hander barely above the ankle.

But umpire Richard Gaffaney deemed impact was marginally outside Klaasen's off stump which was proved by Australia's review, and the batter continued his innings on 27.

Three balls later, Lyon was even more adamant he had his man when Klaasen edged to slip where Steve Smith seemingly snatched the chance moments before it made contact with the turf.

However, for the third time in a Test that was dominated as much by contentious catches as it was abysmal weather, forensic examination by third umpire Richard Kettleborough eventually unearthed sufficient doubt from video footage to justify Klaasen's insistence on standing his ground.

It followed similar instances involving Australia's Marnus Labuschagne and South Africa skipper Dean Elgar in recent days who looked to have fallen to low catches only to have the off-field official rule in their favour.

As events transpired, none of the trio went on to gain significant benefit from their respective reprieves with Klaasen comprehensively bowled by Josh Hazlewood seven runs later, but the matter of disputed catches seems more clouded than ever despite advances in broadcast technology.

And while today's drawn result completes an SCG hat-trick for Australia who were unable to complete day-five fourth-innings demolitions of India (in 2021) and England (last year), there is no question the home team dominated this Test as they did the three-match series.

In perhaps a revealing vignette of South Africa's wretched campaign, their decision to take two specialist spinners into the series finale proved a master stroke but, counter-intuitively, due to the impact it had on their batting rather than the 1-217 the duo returned with the ball.

Keshav Maharaj top scored for his team's first innings in the number nine batting berth, landing a flurry of counter-punches on Australia's bowlers in today's opening session in compiling 53 from 81 balls that were strewn with six boundaries and a six.

He and auxiliary spinner Simon Harmer – in his first appearance for the series – frustrated their rivals for almost two hours while adding 80 for the eighth wicket from 161 balls faced as they pushed the Proteas total beyond 250.

Harmer's 47 occupied 165 balls, making it the longest stay at the crease by any South Africa batter across the three-match NRMA Insurance Series with Temba Bavuma's 65 off 144 at the MCG the previous high watermark.

It provided a marked contrast to South Africa's beleaguered captain Elgar who survived fewer deliveries (144) across six innings in three Tests in scoring a total of 56 runs at the lamentable average of 9.33.

Not only does that represent the lowest series average of the 35-year-old's 82-Test career, it's the leanest by a visiting opener to have played five or more innings on an Australia tour since India's Wasim Jaffer finished his six knocks in 2007-08 with 49 runs at 8.17.

Of greater worry for Elgar, who entered this summer as the foundation pillar of an otherwise inexperienced and unproved batting order, was the manner of his dismissal.

For the fourth time in his six visits to the crease, the left-hander was targeted with short-pitched bowling into his body from around the wicket and was caught behind down the leg side, the same ploy as used so effectively against him by England's bowlers in the UK last year.

Today's drawn result all-but guarantees Australia a place in next June's World Test Championship final at The Oval, although they could notionally miss out should they lose 0-4 in India and Sri Lanka completes a 2-0 sweep in New Zealand in March.

When Australia began their victory push beneath bright sunshine, after thousands had queued patiently outside the SCG until gates opened half an hour before play, they were rated an 85 per cent chance of winning the Test.

That was despite the scale of their assignment - to claim 14 Proteas wickets from a minimum of 98 overs across seven hours of uninterrupted play.

That likelihood would have diminished significantly after Australia went wicketless in the first hour, although the stoic defence deployed by seventh wicket pair Marco Jansen and Harmer brought just 18 runs from 15 overs and meant the follow-on target of 276 remained distant.

It had initially seemed Australia's bowlers would pick up where they had ended - amid vastly different conditions of thick cloud and failing light the previous evening – when Lyon's sharp spin saw the third ball of the morning squeezed in the air past a legside catcher.

But while they were able to create their share of chances, wickets remained tantalisingly out of reach.

When Harmer fending a delivery from Lyon's fourth over of the day in the air behind square leg, the resulting single was the first run conceded by the off-spinner since play had resumed.

And despite the presence of three on-side catchers – a leg gully, short-leg and silly mid-on – when Harmer edged on to his pad against Lyon, the ball still fell short of the waiting cordon.

It took the introduction of part-time spinner Travis Head who further embellished his reputation as a partnership breaker by having Jansen (11 in 100 minutes of batting) neatly caught behind in his opening over.

 

Head then loomed as the greatest bowling threat, with tough chances missed off consecutive deliveries of his third over when Harmer (on 28) clipped a catch to bat-pad that struck Labuschagne's wrist at pace and then tickled a faint edge to keeper Alex Carey.

In his next over, Head had only himself to admonish when Maharaj (on two) began his counter-attack by aiming a lofted drive that was within the bowler's reach but failed to stick in his outstretched right hand.

The availability of a second new ball midway through the morning session seemed the best chance for Australia to find a way through the Proteas' lower-order given the way Hazlewood and Cummins bowled last night.

But it only served to hasten the run rate, as Harmer and Maharaj added 25 off five overs from Hazlewood and Cummins before the hosts reverted back to spin.

Even that ploy proved costly after a ball from Lyon evaded Carey behind the stumps but not the protective helmet laying on the field behind the keeper, which was duly struck adding a valuable five penalty runs to South Africa's total which edged towards the follow-on threshold.

By lunch, they needed only 45 more to ensure Australia would have to bat again – even if they chose to forfeit their innings and head back into the field – with the unlikely union between spinners Harmer (45no) and Maharaj (49no) having produced 72 from 25 overs.

The game's complexion then changed dramatically after Maharaj posted the fifth half-century of his 48-Test career to date.

Seven balls after reaching the milestone he was pinned on the crease by Hazlewood who was beginning to find reverse swing with the ball 20 overs old, and his bid to have the lbw decision overturned on review failed when it confirmed he'd not made contact with bat before his pad was hit.

The Proteas' propensity to lose wickets in clumps, and at eye-watering speed, instilled belief in Australia's bowlers who pressed relentlessly over the ensuing half hour.

They should have removed Kagiso Rabada for a duck but Ashton Agar failed to hold a two-handed attempt to haul in a shoulder-high catch to his left off Hazlewood, and then they launched two failed lbw reviews in consecutive overs from Lyon when becalmed on 47 for 23 deliveries.

His brave resistance ended on that score when he also fell victim to Hazlewood's reverse-swing mastery and inside-edged into middle and off stumps.

South Africa then needed to somehow find 21 runs from final pair Rabada and Anrich Nortje to at least complicate Australia's rejuvenated aspirations for an unlikely win.

But Rabada held out for just six balls before presenting Lyon with a simple return catch, without adding to the team's total, which left them 47 overs to survive – 10 more than they had managed to hold out in their disastrous second innings at Brisbane a month earlier.

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v South Africa

First Test: Australia won by six wickets

Second Test: Australia won by an innings and 182 runs

Jan 4-8: Match Drawn

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Lance Morris, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, David Warner

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Eree, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo