All-rounder Jacques Kallis inspired a dramatic South Africa fightback as Australia slumped to 174 for nine at lunch on the fourth day of the first Test on Sunday.
Kallis had a capacity crowd buzzing by claiming three wickets in six balls and taking two catches, one an outstanding reflex effort at slip.
Australia were still in control of the match, however, with Brad Haddin’s 37 lifting them to a lead of 420 which means South Africa must make the highest ever fourth-innings total to win a test match.
Debutant Phillip Hughes, who made a duck in the first innings, top-scored for Australia with 75.
Kallis, hampered by a back injury in the first innings, removed Ricky Ponting (25) and Michael Hussey (0) with successive deliveries in his first over, both caught off pull shots.
Michael Clarke fell for a duck in the next over as he edged left-arm spinner Paul Harris into the slips and the ball landed in Kallis’s outstretched left hand as he flung himself to his left.
Australia slipped to 104 for five in Kallis’s next over when Marcus North’s innings of five was ended by a delivery which kept low and bowled him.
Hughes’s gutsy 159-minute effort ended when he was also outfoxed by Harris, with AB de Villiers taking a brilliant one-handed catch at leg-slip.
Makhaya Ntini then joined the attack to have all-rounder Andrew McDonald, who added just seven to his first-innings duck, and the dangerous Mitchell Johnson, who scored 96 not out on Friday, caught behind the wicket.
Peter Siddle (six) and Ben Hilfenhaus (nought) were the not out batsmen at lunch.
Kallis claimed three for 22 in five overs to take his career tally to 255 wickets having passed 10,000 test runs on Friday. He has also taken 144 catches. – Reuters