The Proteas continued their domination of Australia by skittling them out for 99 in their first innings, before the visitors produced a fight back of sorts by reaching tea on 50/1, still needing a further 276 runs to make the hosts bat again, on the fourth day of the second test at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Wednesday.
In the morning session the Proteas, led by four wickets from Marco Jansen, reduced the Aussies to 69/6 at lunch, and soon after the break finished them off for less than a hundred.
Jansen was the first to strike, securing his five wicket haul by having Beau Webster pushing away from his body and offering a catch to Aiden Markram at second slip, with the score 84/7.
The final three wickets then fell quickly in successive overs for just three runs, as top bowling from Wiaan Mulder saw him have top scorer Steve Smith (28) in all sorts of trouble before bowling him.
Kagiso Rabada nicked off Mitchell Starc (1) to keeper Ryan Rickelton, and Mulder rounded things off by having Cummins, trying to hit out, caught at deep square leg by Matthew Breetzke.
Jansen was the start of the show with 5/33, while he received perfect support from Mulder, 2/12, Rabada, 2/33, and the injured Anrich Nortje, 1/5.
Captain Temba Bavuma immediately enforced the follow on, and like in the first innings it was Rabada who came up trumps first, removing Nic Maddinson (8), caught behind by Rickelton, leaving them on 8/1.
But opener Travis Head (26no) and Marnus Labuschage (16no) then showed a bit of fight with an unbeaten 42-run second wicket stand to take them to tea.
It however could have been even worse for the visitors after Head received a let off, when he edged Mulder straight to Jansen at gully, but the ball came at him quickly and burst through the fingers and away to the boundary.
In the days final session the Proteas will be eager to make further inroads, while the Aussies will be desperate to build big partnership to give themselves a chance of trying to save the test match.
Earlin in the match, after a frustrating first two days dominated by rain the Proteas came alive on day three thanks to captain Temba Bavuma (179), Jansen (85) and Simon Harmer (82), who helped them reach a good score of 425/9 late in the day.
Pace spearhead Rabada, back from injury, struck in his first over removing opener Maddinson for a fourth ball duck, leaving the Aussies in early trouble on 3/1 overnight.
The Proteas then struck almost immediately in the morning session, with Jansen nicking off nightwatchman Scott Boland (2) with his first ball of the innings, and the second over of the day, to reduce them to 11/2.
In the 10th over a great review saw the back of opener Head (14), who was beaten by a wicked in-swinger from Jansen and got rapped on the pads, with the umpire not giving it and Bavuma sending it upstairs where the DRS returned three reds, as they slipped to 22/3.
Labuschagne (14) and Smith tried to wrestle control back with a few positive shots, but just as they were looking to build a partnership Nortje got a good ball to straighten on Labuschagne and take the edge into the slip cordon, where Harmer at gully flung himself to his left and took a brilliant one handed grab in front of Markram, leaving them on 45/4.
The Aussies now needed to just survive until lunch and they were boosted a couple of overs later when Nortje, in his fourth over, seemed to tweak something in his foot or ankle, and had to walk off the field injured.
But with a few overs to go to lunch Jansen claimed a huge double strike, getting first test hero Matt Renshaw (12) with a good short ball that angled in at him and deflected to Harmer at third slip, followed by Alex Carey for a second ball duck, feathering an edge to keeper Rickelton, as they crashed to 65/6.
PROTEAS: Aiden Markram, Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (capt), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada
AUSTRALIA: Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Renshaw, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood
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