Player of the Match
Player of the Match

11.55am Great to see Starc walk up and shake hands with De Villiers in acknowledgment of that splendid century. This was a session as entertaining as absorbing. Philander held his shape and kept the bowlers at bay early on. Then, Keshav Maharaj provided some T20 style entertainment. Once he fell, AB went into overdrive to play some magnificent strokes - the short-arm jab off Hazlewood for six over deep midwicket - a standout for me. All this means South Africa have managed to open up some breathing space, a 136-run lead that could've easily been no more than 30 or 40 if the lower order collapsed this morning.

Dan Brettig from PE: "So far this series de Villiers has made 197 runs at a strike rate of 71.89 without being dismissed by a bowler."

118.4
W
Starc to de Villiers, 1 run, OUT, squirts this into the cover region and chances a second. Smith is superb to run in from deep cover, pick the ball up and fire a direct hit at the bowler's end. Ngidi had no chance. That's the end of that. AB walks off to a huge round of applause, South Africa have a big lead. He walks off unbeaten on 126. What a session of Test cricket we've had. That's lunch on day three

L Ngidi run out 5 (15m 7b 1x4 0x6) SR: 71.42

118.3
0
Starc to de Villiers, no run, short outside of, AB wanted to ramp this over slip but couldn't

SK Pamiri: "Pace spearheads contributing with the bat these days in Test cricket, Bhuvi for India, Amir for Pakistan, Rabada and Vernon for SA, Starc for Australia. It's in contrast with Ambrose, Walsh, Waqar Younis, McGrath in the past"

118.2
4
Starc to de Villiers, FOUR, backs away and carves this into the cover boundary. Sensational. Picked his spot to perfection. Opened up the off side, cleared the frontfoot and whacked it away
118.1
2
Starc to de Villiers, 2 runs, drilled over the bowler's head, Warner comes around and slides in a long-off before firing a throw. AB was willing Lungi on to get back and he just about manages to.

END OF OVER:
118 | 6 Runs | SA: 375/9

  • Lungi Ngidi5 (7b)
  • AB de Villiers119 (142b)
  • Josh Hazlewood30-5-98-2
  • Mitchell Starc33-5-103-1
117.6
0
Hazlewood to Ngidi, no run, right behind the line of this full delivery as he defends. Huge round of applause from the crowd
117.5
1b
Hazlewood to de Villiers, 1 bye, surely deliberate again? Fires this full and way down leg. AB can't do anything about it, Paine half-stops it. They scamper a bye. Should've been called wide, me thinks
117.4
1
Hazlewood to Ngidi, 1 run, shapes to help this down leg but somehow just gets some glove on it, wasn't far from Paine but AB decides to scamper the run. The throw is fired at the bowler's end where Warner fails to gather this cleanly and whip the bails off, because he was on the move.
117.3
0
Hazlewood to Ngidi, no run, lobs off the shoulder to gully. Rip roaring bouncer this from Hazlewood. Ngidi doesn't show any pain but this must hurt. Smack into the right shoulder as he looked to duck under that
117.2
0
Hazlewood to Ngidi, no run, solid thump down the ground but straight to mid-off
117.1
4
Hazlewood to Ngidi, FOUR, shapes to drive and gets a thick inside edge that squirts away past midwicket. Useful runs

END OF OVER:
117 | (maiden) | SA: 369/9

  • AB de Villiers119 (141b)
  • Lungi Ngidi0 (2b)
  • Mitchell Starc33-5-103-1
  • Josh Hazlewood29-5-93-2
116.6
0
Starc to de Villiers, no run, another full ball that is deliberately bowled down leg, AB swings and misses.
116.5
0
Starc to de Villiers, no run, full but down leg, AB looks swing this behind square but misses
116.4
0
Starc to de Villiers, no run, reaches out and cuts this short delivery to deep point, refuses the single
116.3
0
Starc to de Villiers, no run, slashes this slightly full delivery outside off to deep point

Rabada equals Waqar

4

No. of 10-wkt hauls for Rabada in Tests, at age of 22 - the joint-most for any bowler before turning 23. Waqar Younis had also picked 4 10-fors before ageing 23.

AB triumphs

197*

Runs scored by AB de Villiers in this series, in 3 innings, without getting out to any bowler. He remained not out in first inns of both the Tests while in the second inns of last Test he was run out.

Elgar's fruitful venue

5

No. of 50+ scores for Dean Elgar in 8 Test inns at Port Elizabeth, including his fifty in this game. He has scored over 500 runs at the venue with two centuries and two other fifties.

Rabada's roar

18

No. of balls of a span in which Rabada took five wickets and that induced Australia's collapse.