Delhi: When Pat Cummins chose a brilliant pitch and his first bowling of the season on the first day of the Cape Town Test, many felt that Australia had shot themselves in the foot. But by the end of the third day's play, the story had changed. South Africa has taken a lead of 40 runs after losing four wickets in the second innings at stumps, and the balance of the match seems to be slightly tilted in favor of the visiting team.

The decision of the toss was heavy, but Australia turned the tables

Australia did not suffer much from the toss decision. South Africa crossed the 300 mark, but some of their unnecessary shots also played a role in this. After this, Australia batted for 125.1 overs and gradually took control of the match.

Harmer's havoc after English's century

Australia started the third day with 330/4, i.e. just one run ahead of South Africa's first innings score. Josh Inglis added 15 runs to his night's score and completed only the second century of his Test career. But in the same over, Simon Harmer waved the ball slightly in the air and pitched it outside the off stump, English went ahead to play it and was caught by the wicketkeeper.

English teammate Alex Carey wanted to hold on, but Harmer sent him back in his very next over. Another tossed ball outside the off stump, Carey batted and Aiden Markram took a good catch in the slips.

Then Kagiso Rabada took charge and made Pat Cummins LBW. After some time, Gerald Coetzee got Mitchell Starc caught out, which was his first wicket in this match. By lunch, Australia was at 411/8 and leading by 82 runs.

Australia limited to 429 runs

After lunch, Nathan Lyon tried to stay with Cooper Connelly, but was out after playing 25 balls on the bowling of Vian Mulder. After just four balls, Marco Yanson caught and bowled Conley and ended the innings. Australia was limited to 429, i.e. a lead of exactly 100 runs.

There was also an encouraging statistic for Australia: in South Africa, whenever a team has scored more than 420 runs in the first innings, it has never lost a Test.

Starc's speed troubled Ackerman

But the hosts did not come under pressure due to this figure. Yes, his start was not good. In the third over, Markram lightly played a full ball from Starc into the hands of Travis Head at cover. Then Josh Hazlewood dismissed David Bedingham on a bouncer and the score became 31/2.

From here, captain Temba Bavuma and opener Marques Ackerman together saved wickets for more than 20 overs. Then came Starc's fast bouncer with a speed of 139 km/hr. The ball bounced higher than Ackerman expected, touched the top of the bat, hit the helmet and reached Cameron Green in the slips. Ackerman was asked by the umpires to go back because the time for review had passed. Had there been such a time, the result probably would have been the same.

Just before the end of the day, Lion gave a big blow

Bavuma then made a partnership of more than 100 balls with Matthew Britzke and tried to win the day. Both were almost successful, but in the second last over of the day, Nathan Lyon's ball hit Bavuma. The ball remained low, Bavuma missed the flick and the stumps were shattered.

South Africa got a lead of 40 runs

Australia are in a slightly better position at stumps and may be feeling closer to a series win. But South Africa has shown courage in batting earlier also in this series. If the same spirit is seen again on the fourth day, then some more counterattacks may be seen in this Test.