Aus vs sa

A gloomy sight on what was supposed to be day three of the third Test between Australia and South Africa at the SCG. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images A gloomy sight on what was supposed to be day three of the third Test between Australia and South Africa at the SCG. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images Geoff Lemon What’s the go from here? Some showers predicted for Day 4 but not much, shouldn’t delay things greatly if they do hit us. Day 5 currently looks pretty clear. There might still be time for a result, given South Africa’s batting. We, of course, will be here to keep you updated. But I think that’s enough from a rainy SCG for the day. Thanks for your company whiling it away, see you tomorrow. • • 6 Jan 2023 05.04 GMT The only bit of action in the middle all day: we just had a pitch invader. Fully clothed. Trotted to the middle, waved to the 500 or so people who are still here, and got cheered off as security collared him. Seems like a waste of five grand, honestly. At least he was wearing his thematically appropriate pink shirt. Maybe they can donate the fine. • • 6 Jan 2023 05.01 GMT Byron Ellis writes in. “The attendance in Perth always seemed better when the matches were held at the WACA (might be to do with the more appropriate 24,000 capacity seating vs 60,000 at Optus). The drop in at Optus is rarely an interesting pitch, curators must have lost their mojo being south of the river. Bring back the WACA for Test cricket and the canyon-like cracks down t...

Australia’s Pat Cummins celebrates the wicket of Khaya Zondo on day four of the Third Test against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Australia’s Pat Cummins celebrates the wicket of Khaya Zondo on day four of the Third Test against South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images 7 Jan 2023 07.29 GMT That’s stumps on Day 4. South Africa trail by 326 and face a massive challenge to avoid the follow-on tomorrow. Australia did as expected and went for the win via the jugular. They took six wickets in two sessions. Can they claim 14 in three sessions tomorrow? A mouthwatering feast of final day Test cricket awaits. Join us from 9am – or head to the SCG for the price a gold coin admission – and we’ll dive in together. Look out for Geoff Lemon’s incoming match report shortly and thanks for joining us. Until we meet again on the morrow… happy trails! • • 7 Jan 2023 07.25 GMT 59th over: South Africa 149-6 (Jansen 10, Harmer 6) Josh Hazlewood starts his final over of the day with his fastest delivery yet – a 142kph rocket which Simon Harmer parries to safety. He scurries to the other end and leaves Marco Jansen to see out the final four bullets. Or not. Jansen clips a run off his left hip and leaves Harmer to see off the final two. Rookie error by Harmer. He should’ve been leaning on his bat and looking in the opposite direction. Still, he survives to stumps and he heads into the long shadows of th...

Australia's team collects the nameless trophy for a 2-0 win over South Africa. They were the dominant team. But it does keep others alive in the WTC if Australia lose 4-0 in India and other results go a particular way. But there's a lot of cricket still to be played. Thanks for your company for this series. That concludes our coverage. On behalf of Chandan Duorah, Karthik Krishnaswamy, Andrew McGlashan, Tristan Lavalette, Firdose Moonda and myself it's goodbye from the SCG. Pat Cummins: "The wicket was still pretty good. We knew we were up against it. Keep putting some balls in some good areas, hopefully the luck turned. But that wasn't the case, they batted beautifully. We were probably up against it. We had 150 overs to try and take 20 wickets on a pretty good batting surface. Really proud of all the efforts. I thought Nathan Lyon was outstanding. He bowled close to 60 overs for less rewards than he deserved. I think the most pleasing thing is similar to last year's Ashes, everyone contributing. I'm really happy with how everyone is travelling. I think everyone can hold their heads up high." Dean Elgar: "It's good to end the tour like this. Touring Australia is never easy. But obviously the message to the group last night was we have got to go out and fight on day five and I think it's going to help us in the future. It's going to lead us down the right road. If you think about it, there's only three or four guys that have toured here in the past. The rest was all brand ...