The Proteas have spent four days sabotaging themselves, and now the bill is due.
This damning assessment came from veteran spinner Keshav Maharaj, with the World Test Champions heading into the final day at Kingsmead still requiring 319 runs to reach a world-record target of 421 with only six wickets remaining — or the more achievable target of keeping the relentless Australian attack at bay for three sessions.
Either way, it will be an almighty task, especially for a batting unit that has been its own worst enemy through poor shot selection, lapses in concentration, and an inability to build on promising positions, which has repeatedly undone their hard work.
“To be honest, if you look at a lot of our dismissals, it’s probably self-imposed and maybe shot selection, I would assume. A couple of soft wickets again, if you’re honest,” Maharaj lamented.
“Maybe the transition from white-ball skills where you want the ball to come onto the bat sort of thing, where you’re looking to play a certain way.
“Probably that would be some of the dismissals that led to a demise rather than it being good bowling necessarily, without disrespecting anything. I think we gave a couple of soft wickets if you look at that, even today. Guys are a bit frustrated. It’s probably going to hurt a little bit.”
As in the first innings, South Africa were well-placed at 73/1 after David Bedingham and Aiden Markram had put together a solid 66-run partnership for the second wicket following the early loss of Ryan Rickelton.
Not only did Bedingham fall for another promising 46, but his dismissal brought the run-scoring to a screeching halt before precipitating a collapse that saw the Proteas finish the day on 102/4.
This was in stark contrast to the Australians, who, through Renshaw for the second time in the match, showed the application to get their team to an imposing 314/6.
“Yeah, he played really well. From the first innings to the second innings, he was quite clear in his game plan and never deviated from that,” Maharaj said of Australia’s batting hero.
“I think the foundation that he set in the way he absorbed pressure in the first innings allowed him to play with the freedom that he did just by sort of reading the conditions really well. And you’ve got to give credit where it’s due sometimes.”
The Proteas are going to require someone to stand up in a similar fashion if they are to head to Gqeberha next week with the series still level. And it most likely has to come from their WTC Final hero Markram, who is unbeaten on 45.
“I think the application that Aiden showed from when we got sent in to bat is probably what we’re looking for,” Maharaj said.
“But it’s just taking each session at a time, or each ball at a time, and making sure that we’re quite sound in terms of how we’re going to approach it.”
