Cricket Live Score South Africa vs Australia 2012 2nd Test Day 3

A cautious and composed century by the reliable Graeme Smith revived some hope but the South Africans still have a long way to go as they end day two at 217/2.

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A pitch that favored Australia in the first day decided to switch sides and befriended South Africa on the second day. Morne Morkel took his first five wicket haul against the Australians and made sure Australia would not extend their lead.

The day began with Michael Clarke losing his middle stump to Morne Morkel on 230 and thus ended a nightmare for South Africa. The South African bowlers bowled much better today and managed to extract some bounce from the pitch.

By the 100th over, South Africa were one wicket away from ending the painful first innings with Australia having added a meager 22 runs to their total. Pattinson was the last man to go and he was dismissed by Steyn as he got a thick inside edge to Smith just 8 runs short of a handy half century.

Australia managed a total of 550 runs and posed a huge challenge to the South Africans who had to approach this positively. The opening partnership of Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen accounted for a huge 138 runs.

Alviro Petersen did not drag his bat in and a direct hit from Hussey was all that was needed to break this lucrative opening partnership. The partnership between Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith was less prolific and more grinding.

Hashim Amla showed signs of apprehension early on and was dismissed rather uncharacteristically. David Warner was handed the ball in the 51st over and he bagged the big wicket of Hashim Amla. Amla came down the track but played the wrong line and was stumped on 11 by Wade who succeeded in his second try as Amla could not make it back in time.

The Australians were generally quite sloppy today; perhaps they were in the mood to bat for another day. Matthew Wade, in particular, fumbled a few times: Smith was on 46 when he came down the pitch to flick Michael Clarke but missed and Wade lost sight of the ball and failed to stump Smith for the first time in his career.

Smith reached an elusive 26th century in the 60th over after he sliced the ball for four. South Africa’s captain fantastic did not dominate as much as Michael Clarke but he batted carefully and with assurance at a time when the pressure was on him. Smith, however, did survive a few close calls: he was on 78 when he was caught behind off Pattinson but hotspot showed no contact between bat and ball thus the review was overturned.  

South Africa ended the day on 217/2 and can commend themselves for a much needed fightback. Australia did not dominate as much as day one but are still in the lead while South Africa are only halfway there.

Summarised Scores: South Africa 2 for 217 (Smith 111*, Petersen 54) trail Australia 550 (Clarke 230, Warner 119, Hussey 103, Morkel 5-146) by 333 runs