Renshaw,  Burns and Maxwell have been flown in for this Test.

They replace the suspended Smith, Warner and Bancroft.

South Africa is 6-213 at stumps. After 2 for 200 odd, Australia came back well.

Good to see a big crowd at Wanderers.

The only cause for concern for Australia is Chadd Sayers is a very slow pace bowler and quite short in height. At times his speed was only 118-9 kph. Jackson Bird, who was injured at the wrong time, bowls in the 130s.

Cummins' pace also seems down, with not as many balls reaching the mid 140s that he was bowling a while back. Markham continues to excel for South A.

I'm not sure if there is a change of culture, but Tim Paine had the team shake hands with South A before the start of play. He looked more relaxed as skipper than Smith.

bit annoyed at faf's press conference having a go at warner when he also got caught ball tampering. Bit of a plank in his eye!

We fought back well but still a tad behind i reckon

Sayers at 118-119 is slow but really there have been successful test match bowlers who have bowled in the 120s. Glenn McGath was quite often in the high 120s, Simon Doull of New Zealand was fairly successful for a while bowling in the mid 120s. Slower bowlers just have to be extremely accurate and/or be able to swing the ball a lot.  While being a lot faster is handy if a player is effective at whatever speed then I don't see why their speed should be an issue. Cummins took 3-53 on a reasonably good batting pitch, who cares how fast he bowled, he was a good bowler. 

Cummins has been our best bowler this series, best strike rate and average and managed to always look dangerous, while Hazlewood and Starc have looked poor at times. Sayers also had a decent first day and looked like he could be a decent option especially in England, his seam positioning was brilliant.

Cummins and Lyon bowling really well and getting plenty from the pitch but not muct luck. It is going to be very difficult to get 400 runs.

And the test match is over

Last time I looked, Australia was 6 for about 100! The top 6 have collapsed, but I'd prefer to lose honestly than cheat.

Paine and Cummins have put on 64 and still going for the 6th wicket.

Now 6-160.

Alan Border and Mike Haysman think Paine has been one of the best Aussie batters on the tour in terms of technique.

Paine has been excellent and Cummins sadly in this current lineup is genuinely one of our better batsmen.

74 run partnership now with Aus 6-170.

Maharaj us getting a lot of turn from his left arm finger spin.

Border has mooted putting Paine up to number three in the batting line up.

A lot of things happen abroad that most Aussie fans don’t see. Paine looks so relaxed as a captain under pressure compared to Smith.

Paine looks our most relaxed and natural Captain since Mark Taylor.

A few more runs and Cummins and Paine will have a century partnership!

Morkel has gone off the field with a side strain too.

Cummins has made 50.

Century partnership!

Cummins out for 50 on replay to Maharaj - LBW.

City Sam

Even though Sayers may have excellent seam position,  I’ve seen no pace bowler in world cricket over a long time have sustained success who is as slow as him. The closest would be Philander. He is consistently 5-10kph quicker than Sayers though.

Tasmanians, Bird and Rainbird, are 15kph quicker.

I remember former Aussie Test opener,  Keith Stackpole, say that express bowlers are needed to put the wind up good batters.

Sayers just induced an edge which went through the vacant third slip in his first  over though - at 118kph. There have been no other Aussie speedsters as slow as Sayers since speed guns have been around.

Normally i'd agree but he gets a bit of zip off the pitch, it hurries the batsmen more than the 120-125kms he bowls. The speedgun only measure the speed from the point of release not the instantaneous speed and other variables.

Paine is 56 not out. He hit a big six for his 50.

Aus is 9-215.

Australia all out for 221.

Lyon is getting a lot of bounce and turn in the second dig after Elgar took a brilliant catch to get Paine out for 63.

There is no aggro and respectful behaviour has been displayed from both teams. Michael Holding gave his pal, Rabada, a huge lecture about charging players and getting in their faces. Tim Paine made the whole Oz team shake hands with South A before the start of play.

Adam Dale, the former Queensland bowler and ODI player, who I had forgotten had played 2 tests, was pretty slow, not sure whether he was quite as slow as Sayers. 
I don't think Terry Alderman was very fast by the time 1989 came around when he dominated in England with his swing bowling, but I cannot put a figure on his speed.

This series has been decided by South A’s superior batting.

Cause for concern is that Usman played a Test at Wanderers in 2011! He hasn’t established himself at all in 7 years!

If I Must

Dale was slow, but I’m talking about bowlers having sustained international success.

Warne thinks Philander does more with the ball than Sayers, and, has a bouncer as well. There was no speed gun , but I’m pretty sure Alderman was about 130kph.

In the Shield at Bellerive, Sayers looked to have beautiful rhythm, but I didn't realise he was so slow. Warne is just saying Sayers can't put batters on the back foot at his slow speed of 118kph, and, he has no margin for error in terms of width and length.

South A are lucky to be 0-47 with Lyon, Cummins and Hazlewood inducing snicks and beating the bat , but devoid of luck in this innings.

One has to credit Markram and AB De Villiers for their excellent batting in this series.

Cummins has just dismissed Markram caught by Handscomb in slips. He has taken 19 wickets in the series.

Hazlewood has been below his best and bowled without luck.

Lyon has bowled well without luck.

Starc has been poor by his own standards.

At stumps South Africa are 3 - 134.

Cummins has taken 2 wickets, and Lyon 1.

Cummins has taken 20 wickets for the four Test series and Lyon 15.


Sayers looks innocuous, particularly as the ball ages. He doesn't have the pace to bowl short and put the batters on the back foot. It was bad luck Bird was injured at the wrong time. Isn't  West Aussie  tyro express bowler, Richardson, another fast bowler on the tour in South Africa?

 I agree Sayers might get zip off the pitch, but he needs more speed through the air to become a threat.