That’s it from us today, what a brilliant Test match. Get those loins girded for a series deciding showdown in Cape Town next week. From all of us on the OBO – thanks for your company and correspondence. Goodbye!

Pat Cummins speaks:

I thought there was some good fight today. Boland and Trav (Head) played their roles but it was a fair way to come back from there and it wasn’t enough.

We were a long way away from our best. We didn’t start off too strong. We just need more from all departments. You saw a blueprint today, how Scotty and Trav went about. They got stuck in. You need to weather the storm but when you do, there are some runs to have. After a loss there a few things to look at. The pitch was good and we needed to score a few runs. We will look at it. It’s a reverse of last week, isn’t it? They played well.”

Temba Bavuma is Player of the Match:

The heart rate’s quite good! We were a little bit scrambling in the changing room and not too sure with the weather but we were very excited as soon as we got on the field. They made us work hard for those six wickets.

I think we saw throughout the days that batting was quite difficult, especially against the new ball. So I think to be able to perform like that, to be able to get the team in a very competitive position, I take a lot of pride in that.

I think our team, the way we go about it, we play good old Test cricket, you know, try and wear the opposition down and then take them down when the opportunity presents itself.”

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Meanwhile, it’s bubbling up nicely in Rawalpindi:

Related: England v Sri Lanka: Brook makes history in men’s tri-series cricket ODI – live

Time for the presentations…

South Africa were 20 for 2 on day one then 97 for 5 and 110 for 6 on day two. Temba Bavuma’s ensuing 179 off 334 balls against a gun bowling line up and with the series on the line will surely go down as one of the great modern innings for the Proteas, heck, potentially for anyone.

Handshakes all round and beaming smiles from the South African’s who managed to get the final few wickets with the gloom circling, the clouds certainly added a further layer of anxiety to proceedings but Rabada and Jansen went bang bang after Wiaan Mulder managed to prise out Scott Boland and then nip out Pat Cummins with a couple of doozies. A great effort from the Proteas bowlers in the second innings with Anrich Nortje out of action through a groin injury.

Series locked 1-1 heading to Cape Town is just what the Test match Doctor ordered.

South Africa win by an innings and 31 runs!

Hazlewood has a slash at Jansen and is caught behind! That’s it! South Africa level the series and take it to a decider in Cape Town. What a performance from the Proteas, they took a risk by making Australia follow on but it gave them enough time to get over the line in a rain shortened Test.

107th over: Australia 295-9 (Carey 37, Hazlewood 0) Rabada it is after a slurp of something luminous. Can he finish this off before any potential rain shower? Nervous glances abound. The band play but Carey blocks one two three four five… and then bunts for four off the last. Nice shot but Hazlewood will be on strike to Jansen. Deep breaths.

A drinks break?! You are kidding me!

106th over: Australia 291-9 (Carey 33, Hazlewood 0) Oh my days! Carey is pinned down for five balls by Jansen and attempts a quick single off the last in order to keep the strike, the run was never there but Ackerman misses run out attempt with one stump to aim at, Carey wasn’t even in the frame!

105th over: Australia 290-9 (Carey 32, Hazlewood 0) Rabada completes a wicket maiden in his first over back. Josh Hazlewood is Australia’s last man. Marco Jansen is thrown the ball with one wicket left to take and the clouds still hovering. I’m nervous, not least because I need to pick my daughter up from school in 45 minutes, so much at stake here!

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WICKET! Mitchell Starc b Rabada 11 (Australia 290-9)

Starc leaves Rabada’s first ball with all three stumps showing, the ball wobbles back and winks at off stump as it passed by not very much. The groundstaff are circling with a rain cloud hovering - a stoppage for a shower here would really ramp things up…

GONE! KG cleans up Starc for the 8th time in 11 Test innings, an airy drive misses by miles and the stumps are splayed. South Africa are one wicket away from levelling up the series.

104th over: Australia 290-8 (Carey 32, Starc 11) It’s Harmer once again, Carey flicks off his pads for four and then works for two through midwicket. The deficit is down to 36 runs and the grey cloud is beginning to sit over St George’s Park. What tension! Here is KG Rabada, can he finish this off?

103rd over: Australia 284-8 (Carey 26, Starc 11) The lbw from Harmer to Carey just hit the batter outside the line so would have remained not out. Starc gets right in behind six balls from Mulder and even has a smile on his face as he does so. On we go.

102nd over: Australia 283-8 (Carey 26, Starc 11) Harmer continues, Carey attempts a reverse-sweep and misses… there’s a huge appeal but the umpire says no and Harmer doesn’t fancy it. Replays show it might’ve been closer than it looked and was probably worth sending upstairs. More as we get it…

Carey sweeps again and gets four this time. That might be the end of Harmer’s spell as the TV camera pan to the grey cloud building behind the grandstand once again. As Moloko sang – The Time Is Now.

101st over: Australia 276-8 (Carey 21, Starc 9) Rickelton is up to the stumps to Mulder but it doesn’t stop Starc from unfurling a long-limbed cover drive for four. Ooosht! Starc attempts the same to the next ball and is beaten. Ooohs and aaaahs almost every ball. Mulder is hitting a spot and getting the ball to jag. The camera pans to some grey cloud building in the distance… I’m saying nothing.

100th over: Australia 272-8 (Carey 21, Starc 5) Harmer is negotiated and worked for a couple. Mulder is going to continue. C’mon Temba, now’s the time to go to your big men and get the job done.

99th over: Australia 270-8 (Carey 20, Starc 4) Mulder doesn’t strike for the third over in a row. Get him hooked! Seriously though, I’d be throwing the ball to Rabada and Jansen now, Harmer is being played relatively easily.

98th over: Australia 266-8 (Carey 19, Starc 1) A real spring in the South African step now as they sense the series levelling win. How does Carey play it from here? Attack or batten down the hatches? The deficit is still 60 runs.

97th over: Australia 262-8 (Carey 16, Starc 0) It was another lovely ball from Mulder, just enough movement and reward for targeting the stumps. Cummins sent on his way early and unable to play the sort of innings he is well capable of that could have seen the Aussies get close to saving the Test. Carey now has just Starc for company and Hazlewood in the hutch.

WICKET! Pat Cummins b Mulder 4 (262-8)

You bet he does! Cummins is defeated by a full ball that straightens enough to beat the bat and trim the off bail. South Africa just two away now!

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96th over: Australia 261-7 (Carey 15, Cummins 4) Boland’s score is the highest by a nightwatchman at Gqeberha and the replays keep showing that he was undone by an absolute peach. Cummins gets off the mark with a tentative poke for four off Harmer. Here’s Mulder for the next, does he have another magic ball or two up his sleeve?

95th over: Australia 256-7 (Carey 13, Cummins 0) Scott Boland faced 166 balls for his 40 and was only sent on his way by an absolute ripper that seamed back considerably to beat his forward defensive. It would have cleaned up plenty of ‘proper’ batters that one. Mulder has three huge wickets in this game, Smith in the first dig and Head and Boland in the second. Bavuma went to him after tea - which was obviously a good idea - and he has delivered the crucial breakthrough. South Africa need three more as Pat Cummins arrives in the middle to join Alex Carey.

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WICKET! Scott Boland b Mulder 40 (Australia 256-7)

The ball is only 14 overs old and the players have just had a break, I’m really surprised that Rabada or Jansen isn’t having a burst to break this partnersh… SHUT UP WALLACE… Mulder cleans up Boland with a beauty to end the vigil and break the game open!

94th over: Australia 255-6 (Boland 40, Carey 13) Harmer has two short legs in place, I wonder if he should throw it a bit wider of off stump and entice the drive rather than everything being quite so straight. Carey clips a single and Boland navigates the rest of the over with ease. The nerves and tension rise with every over. The sun is beating down and the pitch looks flat, the Aussies will be heartened by the conditions and how solid Carey and Boland have looked.

93rd over: Australia 254-6 (Boland 40, Carey 12) Wiaan Mulder starts after the break. Can he find the golden arm that got rid of Travis Head? Not this over, he’s right on the money but Scott Boland is batting like Rahul Dravid. A maiden consisting of five solid defensive blocks and and a well judged leave. Get past that.

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Right then, the players head back out to the middle. Which way is this Test match going to go? Let’s find out.

Tea - Australia 253-6 (trail by 73 runs)

Simon Harmer beats Alex Carey with a doozy that draws the batter in and then spits past the forward defence. Carey then lap sweeps with aplomb for four and a solid forward defensive sees out the session.

38 overs bowled, 98 runs added but two crucial wickets lost in the form of Travis Head and Steve Smith. Scott Boland is still there, unbeaten on his highest Test score of 40 and having soaked up a priceless 154 deliveries. Australia’s hopes hang on him, Carey and the rest of the bowlers. There are a potential 45 overs more to survive but bad light could come into it before then. An hour and a half more of resistance could see Australia save the Test. South Africa are desperate for the four wickets needed to level the series and take it to a decider in Cape Town.

Decent game eh? See you back here in ten.

92nd over: Australia 253-6 (Boland 40, Carey 12)

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91st over: Australia 249-6 (Boland 40, Carey 8) The camera pans to Jason Gillespie in the crowd, just in case Aussie fans wanted a bit more nightwatchman inspiration as Boland gets through another Jansen over.

90th over: Australia 248-6 (Boland 40, Carey 7) Alex Carey is a lucky lad! He goes back to a quicker ball from Harmer and almost chops onto his own stumps, fortunately for him and Australia the meaty inside edge bounces over the pegs. Tension ramping up with each over, we’re going down to the final session folks, and potentially down to the wire too.

89th over: Australia 245-6 (Boland 38, Carey 6) I do enjoy Jansen’s bowling face, he gives a real surly teenager freshly scolded for having a messy bedroom vibe at the top of his mark. He nearly gets the breakthrough with a beauty to Boland that zips past the defensive prod. So close, so far.

88th over: Australia 244-6 (Boland 38, Carey 5) Harmer mixes up his pace, tossing up a flighted delivery and then following up with a couple of darts in an attempt to catch Boland out. He’s got his eye well in by now though and defends robustly.

87th over: Australia 243-6 (Boland 38, Carey 4) Eeesht! Boland has started to play a bit more loosely since Smith’s departure, the odd play and miss and unconvincing waft. Its imperative for the Aussies that these two make it through to tea and beyond. A dicey upper cut from Boland to a Rabada short ball lands safely over the infield but there were green and gold hearts in mouths for a split second or two. Head down Scotty!

86th over: Australia 240-6 (Boland 36, Carey 3) Harmer whirls away. “Bowling Red” comes the call from Rickelton behind the stumps. Four men around the bat waiting for an edge onto pad to loop up and be swallowed. Boland blocks out five balls after a Carey single off the first. Can’t take your eyes off it.

85th over: Australia 239-6 (Boland 36, Carey 2) Just a leg bye and a Rabada front foot no ball off the over. Bavuma calls for Simon Harmer for the next over and the fielders are clamouring to get round the bat. Twenty minutes til the tea interval. Don’t go anywhere.

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84th over: Australia 237-6 (Boland 36, Carey 2) Boland keeps at it, a 37 year old Duracell Bunny of a man. He gets a meaty edge to Jansen that goes for a streaky four and chastises himself for the loose stroke. A few balls later Marco puts it in the same place and Boland cuts for four with much more composure. The deficit stands at 89 runs.

83rd over: Australia 229-6 (Boland 28, Carey 2) Temba Bavuma couldn’t watch the Smith/Breetzke catch as it plooped up, he turned away to look at the crowd like a nervous parent or stressed to all heck football manager during a penalty shootout. He saved himself a palpitation or two not having to witness the juggle from the fielder.

Alex Carey arrives to join Boland. This pair need to take another hour or so at least out of the final afternoon to give Australia a realistic chance of saving this game. South Africa are hunting the win that will take us to a mouthwatering series shootout in Capetown.

Carey is off the mark with a single to cover, Boland carries on his brilliant resistance with another textbook push for three through the off side.

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BIG WICKET! Steven Smith c Breetzke b Rabada 3 (Australia 225-6)

That could well be the game! Smith plays a terrible cross batted hack to Rabada and spoons a catch to Breetzke who juggles the catch as it comes over his shoulder but he takes it at the second grab! What was Smith thinking?! He trudges off and Australia’s hopes now lie with Alex Carey and the bowlers.

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82nd over: Australia 225-5 (Boland 25, Smith 3) Jansen shares the new nut. Smith clips the first ball of the over into the leg side for a single, Boland has batted so well that there is no question of shielding strike. Five dots follow but Jansen does beat Scotty B with a beauty that angles in and shapes away late.

81st over: Australia 224-5 (Boland 25, Smith 2) “The new ball is yours” Geoff says in his handover text. I think that might be the first time in my life someone has said that to me. What a moment. Goosebumps.

Anyway, what a thrill to be here on the OBO tools for the denouement of this enthralling Test. Rabada has the new ball and Scott Boland now has his highest Test score with a compact push down the ground for four! Some knock this has been, 116 balls faced for his 25 runs and plenty of crucial minutes soaked up. Smith quietly getting his head down with a crook neck, he glides a single past point.

80th over: Australia 219-5 (Boland 21, Smith 1) Last over before the new Kooka will be Harmer. It won’t be Boland’s eighth maiden of the innings, because he drives Harmer square for two, and equals his own Test high score! Whatever happens after the new ball comes, this has been an admirable effort from a true competitor.

New ball, new commentator. It’s time for me to go, and for James Wallace to accompany you through Scotty B’s next hundred deliveries.

79th over: Australia 217-5 (Boland 19, Smith 1) Mulder got Smith in the first dig, and he’s looking for him again. On the off stump, searching for a way through, but Smith full-blades him to mid on. No run from the over.

The weather, writes Gervase Greene, “leads me inevitably to the utterly cricket topic of what type of draw might this become? We all know ‘a win is a win’ - be it in football, athletics, darts, life, whatever. But in the age of sudden-death finals, golden points, penalty shoot-outs etc, Test cricket stands supreme for the baffling grey-ness of a draw. There are honorable draws, fortuitous draws, gutsy draws and the downright shabby (ie ‘you should have declined to accept’) draws. I hope the weather improves and this becomes just idle speculation, but I might suggest from an Australian perspective this one lands closer to the latter.”

This email, admittedly, came through a little while ago, but if Australia do survive today it will be highly creditable. The odds are still with South Africa. Smith hasn’t been himself, Carey is in poor nick, then you get through to the bowlers, Boland’s exceptional defence notwithstanding.

78th over: Australia 217-5 (Boland 19, Smith 1) Boland has gone past 100 balls faced. He’s facing Harmer again, still with four catchers, though they’ve swapped one of the off-side men to leg slip, the classic star formation. Finally Boland gets another run, through square, and Smith gets a couple of leg byes in a similar direction. Harmer bowling way too much on the pads. Smith finally gets his first run, flicked square.

The deficit is 109.

77th over: Australia 213-5 (Boland 18, Smith 0) Catch down? Kinda sorta. Smith goes get some bat on Mulder’s ball, but with the keeper standing up to the stumps, that hits Rickelton more than being dropped by him. Defensive shot on off stump from Smith, otherwise it was hitting his woodwork, but the outside edge followed.

Boland has been on 18 for 10 overs. Smith hasn’t scored. There are 58 overs remaining, and three until the new ball.

76th over: Australia 213-5 (Boland 18, Smith 0) Boland’s seventh maiden over faced, seeing off Harmer, but the close fielders are getting interested as the odd one turns.

75th over: Australia 213-5 (Boland 18, Smith 0) So Head drives a lovely straight four from Mulder, then gets out. Boland survives him, incongruously. Also incongruous is Steve Smith batting at No7 for the first time since 2014. Guess where that happened? Gqeberha. He gets a bumper from Mulder first up, and it goes through the keeper for four byes.

WICKET! Head b Mulder 121, Australia 209-5

The man least likely! He’s the understated name in the seam bowling line-up, but Wiaan Mulder has got the biggest wicket! Head chops on again, again, again, even in this innings, even after a ton. Mulder around the wicket, short of a length, angled in, and Head doesn’t need to play this ball, could have dropped his gloves under it, could have let it hit him, anything. Instead, while hopping, he pushes those gloves at the line of the ball, and deflects it down into his stumps.

South Africa don’t need to wait for the new ball. They’re in.

74th over: Australia 205-4 (Head 116, Boland 18) The lesser-spotted defensive Head carries on being spotted, waiting out Harmer’s over before taking a single from the last.

That is drinks. Australia now with 61 overs left in the day, and 121 runs to make up. South Africa must remain patient and give themselves the chance of a wicket. Everything can change when one falls, and surely at some stage it will.

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73rd over: Australia 204-4 (Head 116, Boland 18) Head started the day aggressively but has become very quiet in the last few overs. Into a defensive groove. Mulder the bowler, right-arm seam around the wicket to the lefty, who eventually gets a run to fine leg. He’s not blocking bad balls. Boland defends crisply. He’s approaching his Cowan Ton.

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72nd over: Australia 203-4 (Head 115, Boland 18) Turn from Harmer, but slow turn from the surface. It starts wide and goes wider, and Head can knock it away easily enough. Cuts the next ball for one run to deep cover. Harmer goes up for a bat-pad appeal against Boland, but that ball was all knee-roll, no bat, hitting outside the leg stump. Harmer’s bowling around the wicket to the righty.

Boland in Test cricket, by the by, has now opened, batted three, and batted five, six, ten, and eleven. Only number four has eluded him in the top six.

71st over: Australia 202-4 (Head 114, Boland 18) Second maiden in a row, as Boland blocks out Mulder. Australia remain 124 runs behind in their second innings. New ball nine overs away.

70th over: Australia 202-4 (Head 114, Boland 18) Harmer has swapped ends to the one that Rabada was using. A well set field stops Head scoring while playing the ball into the off side. He’s still there at the end of the over though.

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69th over: Australia 202-4 (Head 114, Boland 18) South Africa will be starting to grind their teeth. That’s 15 overs bowled this morning and still no wicket. Boland is now playing the longest innings of his career to date, 84 balls and counting. Mulder on, almost bowls Boland while leaving, but it doesn’t nip enough.

68th over: Australia 201-4 (Head 113, Boland 18) He is up and away! Looks all set to block a sixth maiden over, then from the last ball decides to uppercut Rabada for four instead. Whoosh. Takes the team past 200.

67th over: Australia 197-4 (Head 113, Boland 14) For Head, Harmer has a slip, shot leg, and that short mid off, about 20 paces from the bat. A misfield at cover lets Head off strike. Australia 130 behind. Harmer spears down leg to Boland, in between targeting the front pad, and Boland is able to jab one of those leg-stump balls away for a run.

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66th over: Australia 195-4 (Head 112, Boland 13) Looking confident is Boland. Plays a cut shot and an off drive to Rabada, both to the field, but neatly done. Then fiddles at a line tight to the off stump! Nearly nicks it. Defends the next one well off the back foot, ball angled at his body, and calls “No!” stoutly.

That’s the fifth maiden he’s blocked out. Faced 70 balls so far.

65th over: Australia 195-4 (Head 112, Boland 13) Bavuma is riiiiight under the nose on the off side, almost touching the cut strip with his fingers. I think the umpire might even have moved him back a touch the next ball. He’s close enough to get hit by the bat if Boland steps to the off side to drive. But it’s not Boland who is nearly caught by someone close in, it’s Head after gaining strike. Digs out Harmer to a short straight mid on, full ball, and it just bounces in front of the fielder, who doesn’t claim it but the umpires do choose a quick video check.

64th over: Australia 192-4 (Head 111, Boland 12) Where’s that come from? Boland has played a back-foot punch off Rabada for four! Not advisable, he saw a few teammates get out yesterday playing that, but on this occasion he times it perfectly and gets away with the decision. Saw a bit of width and went for it, in the same way he got out to Jansen in the first innings, but that time had left-arm angle across, and this time it was going on straight from the right-armer.

63rd over: Australia 187-4 (Head 110, Boland 8) Deficit is down to 139. Four catchers around the bat, hoping that the big fast bowler with the blade will take an awkward step and pop up a catch from Harmer off the pad. Short leg, silly mid off, silly point, slip. No leg slip, if Boland gets one off his hip. He’s not going to play an aggressive shot, so why not have that man in? Boland is in the groove now, big step down and defending with the bat angled back, safety first, the b-b-b-b-bomb squad defusing grenades one at a time. So far Harmer’s grenades have been the plastic Halloween type. Tis the season.

62nd over: Australia 187-4 (Head 110, Boland 8) Runs keep coming. Rabada is back for Jansen, Bavuma ringing the changes. Not great bowling though. Rabada bowls too short outside off, uppercut for four. Too full and straight, and driven behind point for four. Then outside leg stump, and deflected away for two leg byes. But anyone who’s been to a yard sale knows that if you rummage around in junk for long enough, you can find a gem. Rabada bowls that one, beating outside edge and off stump by a millimetre apiece. Around the wicket to the lefty, a little angle in and seam away, gorgeous stuff.

61st over: Australia 177-4 (Head 102, Boland 8) A third maiden blocked out by Boland! He’s stayed out there for seven overs so far today, very useful nightwatch work.

Technically the stats will say that is Head’s first century away from home. He has the one from the World Test Champs final in London, but that’s counted as neutral. He’s played a few ‘neutral’ Tests, with two finals plus a Pakistan series in the UAE when he started his career.

I take issue with this kind of stats categorisation. Those performances are still ‘away’ from home, regardless of who you’re playing against. The useful information in cricket is whether the conditions were foreign, more than how well the bowlers knew them.

Century! Travis Head 102 from 151 balls

60th over: Australia 177-4 (Head 102, Boland 8) Doesn’t waste any time! Two boundaries in the Jansen over, and Head doesn’t stay in the 90s long enough to be nervous, twice going through the leg side, once fine and once through midwicket. A friendly middle-stump half volley to get your ton? Yes please. Jansen can’t create any pressure.

That’s a remarkable innings. Fairly restrained by Head’s standards, brisk by anyone else’s, and it has kept his side in the contest. Also a good sign for Australia is that most of his hundreds become pretty big ones, he’s not so inclined as others to reach the mark and get out.

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59th over: Australia 169-4 (Head 94, Boland 8) Harmer, Head. Put them together and you have a shark. South Africa try spin, Australia’s opener adds a single, and there wasn’t much threat in any of that.

58th over: Australia 168-4 (Head 93, Boland 8) Australia now 158 runs behind. South Africa won’t worry about that unless it gets down to double figures. And it might not if Jansen keeps bowling like this. Somehow doesn’t get Boland out with a ball that jumps on a middle-stump line, Boland backing away and hauls his bat out of the way as he reads the length. Stumps exposed, but he knew it wasn’t going to hit them. Cool head. He bats out another maiden.

57th over: Australia 168-4 (Head 93, Boland 8) Again, a single for Head first ball of the Rabada over, driven to deep cover. They have a sweeper back now. One probably always should for Head. It nearly brings about Boland’s downfall, but instead his nick hits the rope for four. Almost ran the ball away rather than edging it. Why he was running it at first slip, I don’t know, but it somehow bounces and squeezes between the two slippers and away for runs. He even follows up with a single to pinch the strike.

A few revisions of the equation, I think the target for the day was 82 overs at the beginning, so 79 after this one.

56th over: Australia 162-4 (Head 92, Boland 3) Jansen to Boland, who plays him really well. Confidently onto the half-front foot to defend with bat right next to pad whenever the ball is pitched up. Gets hit by a shorter one, glancing blow, and leaves alone what he can. Another over down.

Play gets under way

55th over: Australia 162-4 (Head 92, Boland 3) Head is happy to take the single first ball of the day! That’s interesting. He’s batting with the usual No11, Boland was nightwatch last evening, but if they were looking to bat time, then perhaps Boland facing Rabada second ball of the day would not be ideal? I guess it’s also a good thing for Head to play normally and try to score normally, because that’s the way to keep a slight nudge of pressure on the bowlers. Even when runs don’t matter much, they still don’t like strike rotation and being scored from.

In any case, Boland handles Rabada comfortably, blocking a yorker and then working a run to leg. Head threads his first boundary of the day through point! A bit of a warm-up over from a bowler sending down his 12th of this innings after 12 more in the innings prior.

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Lunch has formally been taken, we have two sessions to play, and they theoretically have determined that 82 overs will be bowled today. That will not happen, one way or the other, but the intention is to play as late as possible, if required. Either that or South Africa kill this contest quickly.

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We are close to action. Sun is out, a little patchy white cloud against the blue sky, and the players are on the field.

Lunch taken early

Update: lunch break is taking place now, and play is scheduled to being in 25 minutes.

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“Shame about the rain hope it doesn’t ruin an exciting last day,” writes Tom Barrington. “As a UK based radio cricket enjoyer, I had to find an Australian feed yesterday. I tuned in during the collapse and was amazed at the funereal atmosphere, it really was striking how down the team were and the calls for an enquiry were starting. I think they had a point re Maddinson, but this is still an extremely successful side who have a great chance of winning the series still and ultimately the World Test Championship.

“Do you think this is part of the difference between the culture around cricket in England compared to Australia (ultimately borne out in results), in the lack of acceptance of failure? I’ve listened to many worse England collapses and there is much more of an acceptance of fate, combined with some gallows humour.”

In a word, yes. My theory from my experience working a lot in both countries, which others may dispute, is that broadly speaking the English are good losers and bad winners, while Australians are good winners and bad losers. Caveats! Generalisations! Do not deluge me with contrary case studies, I’m talking broad social averages here.

The theory being that because Australians expect to win, they move on from it quickly and don’t wallow in smug gloating to the same extent, but when their teams lose, they are shocked to the core that such an outrage could happen, and can’t cope with it.

All out for under a hundred is UNACCEPTABLE to an Australian mind, it is the province of weak teams from weak countries that do not have our indomitable pioneering spirit born of the hardscrabble clay, or something. There’s a lot of hypernationalist myth mixed in there, and a lack of ability to be philosophical about failure.

But those complaints also have a point, that a lot of flaws in this current team have been visible for a while, and haven’t been addressed, so when a Test falls apart because of those self-same weaknesses, people get stroppy about it.

“I’m following Australia vs South Africa all the way from Seattle and it’s 2:10 AM. Trust me, there is nothing more Seattle-like than a rain on a weekday. This Test makes me feel included even if I have to sit and wait here at 2 past midnight! On the other hand, the rain reminds me of the South Africa exit in the 1992 world cup against England. Cheers!”

Not sleeping… in the largest city in Washington state… if only there was a film reference that I could employ. Still, that is serious dedication, Muhammad Najib, to be waiting up all night to read the rain delays. We salute you. Go Orcas.

Rain intensifying on final morning

The rain is intensifying. This is settling into becoming a really significant loss of time. On most grounds you’re generally at least an hour from resuming after serious rain, so that would take us past the scheduled lunch break. And on this ground, the outfield got so soaked that we lost several extra hours on day two even in the sunshine.

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“Whilst you’re pondering the weather perhaps you could work on an Edges of Maddinson’s County zinger,” writes Patrick O’Brien. “Actually, does he even use a County? Ah well, carry on.”

Maddinson uses a DSC. He has played a little bit of county, for Durham. Didn’t go so well.

“Crisis? What crisis?” asks Rowan Sweeney. “The thing that sets Australian cricket apart is the shared commitment between fans, staff and players to achieve excellence. Case in point - yesterday morning Head and Boland were ready to greet the first ball, and they’re here again for more today.”

Must be a fairly rare occurrence. I would claim a reasonably advanced stat-search capability, but not sure it’s good enough to look that one up.

We just did another round of the cover dance. Covers off, revised session times, players warm up, rain returns, covers on.

“At risk of overcooking the Shield chat,” writes Eamonn Maloney, “you don’t have to select from a bunch of mediocrities averaging 35 when it’s early in the season and the small sample size is inflating averages. Made a big ton? In you go son!”

If they had more than four days between matches, you might be right, the emergency calls may be going out. Though on the other hand, the current regime is happy to ignore Shield cricket completely when they feel the vibe is more compelling: Maddinson, Connolly.

Assuming that Green is fit for Cape Town, then somebody has to go: you’d assume Maddinson, Webster, or Labuschagne. And if Inglis is fit and firing, he’s a calm head they they like, so the changes might be dual.

That said, Labuschagne ‘failing’ in the high 30s is not the worst problem a cricketer can have. And I think they’ve botched Webster’s career by making him peripheral, batting seven and bowling the odd over, rather than backing him at six as part of the top-tier batting unit. He had such a good start but has faded badly in recent matches, and I’d point at least one finger at a lack of clarity about what his job is.

Scratch that, now the covers are coming back. We’re whittling down the overs that Australia has to face, but the unclear timings would also increase the uncertainty in that dressing room.

It sounds like we might get play 15 minutes from now.

Pondering that, there may indeed be some layoffs from this Australian team if they lose here and need to win in Cape Town to take the series.

I see the Australian team situation as having been the same for a while. A very good bowling attack, whatever their age, but suspect batting. Mostly the bowling is good enough that the batting only has to scrape enough runs together – see Durban, see Mackay. On the occasions when the bowlers don’t dominate, which no group of bowlers always will, the batting can’t cope. See Darwin, see Gqeberha.

“Our Test team is late-stage capitalism,” writes an unnamed Australian correspondent. “Spurts of comforting nostalgic old reliables coming good (Smith, Lyon, Boland), some new-tech hopes (Head opening), but really we know its allll crumbling. Even the banks are laying off workers.”

We’re going to have a slightly delayed start because there was some rain this morning. Covers are coming off, at around the scheduled start time. The Australians will of course be very pleased by every over lost.

Updated

You can email me, of course, like Simon D has done: “I’m a pom - living in Aberdeen for my sins - I’m not in the slightest bit bothered about the three way hit and giggle fest going on in Pakistan at the minute. But this... this is gripping. I bloody love Test cricket.”

That’s the stuff, Simon. Though I will say the concept of an ODI tri-series is now also sufficiently retro that it almost belongs in the same category. Things to please traditionalists. In fact, there are two ODI tri-series happening simultaneously. England and Sri Lanka are in Pakistan, as you say, while Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are up to the final of their own version in the UAE.

There’s also an Ireland-Namibia ODI series, India are playing all formats in New Zealand and are halfway through a T20 right now, and Australia’s women are playing New Zealand’s women in a T20 starting any minute.

But here, we’ve got the real quiz.

Weather! We’ll have some of it. Allegedly the good kind. Mild day with some sunshine, says the prognostication. Good day for batting, if one can keep at it.

Early start by 15 minutes, extended finish by “until it gets dark”.

Want to know what happened on day four of the second Test? Luckily, I know a guy who has a good source for match reports.

There it was, another entry in Australia’s hall of infamy against South Africa. There was 47 all out, in the innocent days when the 2011 Test was the worst humiliation in Cape Town. There was 85 all out in Hobart, 2016, that led to half the side being sacked. Now there is 99 all out in Gqeberha, one day after the home team blew past 400, only for the visitors to follow on halfway through day four.

Related: Australia collapse in chaotic fashion to leave South Africa in sight of victory

Preamble

What say you, traveller? Tarry by the fire a minute? We may trade tales of desperate glory.

A bit of that ahead of us today, or at least it needs to be if Australia hope to save this game. This is a team that was forced to follow on yesterday, then lost four more wickets second time around, and they’re still 170 runs behind.

The equation is this. To take on the task we have Travis Head nearing a hundred, Scott Boland nightwatching at the other end, then it will be Steve Smith with a crook neck, Alex Carey of the horrible shot yesterday, and the bowler trio of Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood.

Between them, this lot need to bat for three sessions, with perhaps a slightly early end for bad light. Or, if they’re able to score as well as bat time, they could try to make that 170 and get into the lead, where every run is worth double because South Africa would need time to score them back.

Admittedly that’s unlikely given the four wickets to have fallen, but if things did pan out that way, Australia could kill the game sooner than three sessions by getting far enough in front.

Far more likely is that South Africa’s bowlers will be refreshed by a night’s sleep, and will pick them off in time, with six wickets to get.

The series will stay live if South Africa pull this off. High stakes. You in?