Australia claimed three wickets before lunch as they moved within sight of victory on the fifth and final day of the first Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday.
South Africa were 247-5 at lunch, with their winning target of 454 no longer a realistic proposition.
Australia’s chances of bouncing back from a home series loss against South Africa earlier in the season soared when Mitchell Johnson dismissed key batsman Jacques Kallis with the second new ball.
In Johnson’s previous over, the first with the new ball, he won a leg before wicket decision against Kallis from umpire Billy Bowden. Kallis asked for a television referral and the decision was overturned by television umpire Asad Rauf.
Earlier, Peter Siddle and Andrew McDonald both took wickets with the old ball after Kallis and Hashim Amla batted solidly for the first hour of the two-and-a-half hour session.
Siddle made the breakthrough when Amla was caught at midwicket for 57. First innings century-maker AB de Villiers made only three before he was trapped leg before by persistent medium-pacer McDonald. He asked for a referral but Rauf upheld the decision by Bowden.
Kallis, who had scored 40 off 85 balls before Amla’s dismissal, went into survival mode.
He faced another 54 deliveries in scoring five more runs before he drove at a wide ball from Johnson, which deflected into his stumps off an inside edge and a pad. — AFP
