Cape Town: Nathan Lyon, the Australian cricketer, dismissed Temba Bavuma, the South African captain, on Thursday, bolstering Australia's position on the third day of the third World Test Championship match. At the end of the day, the hosts reached a score of 140/4 in their second innings.
South Africa's Lead Despite Australian Pressure
South Africa currently holds a 40-run lead over their opponents, with Matthew Britzke scoring 19 runs without losing a wicket and Ryan Rickelton adding 8 runs to the tally.
Earlier, Australia started the day with 330 and 6 wickets in hand, eventually finishing with a total of 429 runs. Josh Inglis played a crucial role with a brilliant century, and Alex Carey contributed 80 runs, helping to establish a 100-run lead for their team.
Outstanding Performance by South African Players
For the Proteas, Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer took 7 wickets between them. Harmer ended with figures of 4/104 and Jansen with 3/60.
Jansen's performance came after he climbed to the top of the ICC rankings for Test men's bowling and the all-rounders' rankings. While the South African team was 100 runs behind in the first innings, they faced a serious setback at the start of the second innings when Mitchell Starc dismissed Aiden Markram in the third over. Josh Hazlewood soon followed by getting rid of David Beddingham, increasing the pressure on the hosts.
Marcus Ackermann and captain Bavuma then brought the game back to balance with a 64-run partnership for the third wicket. Ackermann, recognized as South Africa's top scorer in the first innings, registered his second half-century in this Test. Starc broke this partnership by dismissing Ackermann, bringing Australia back into the game. Lyon also dealt another blow to the host team by dismissing Bavuma in the last over of the day.
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