Test cricket LIVE: Australia v South Africa first Test, day four

On Maddinson. Fox Cricket’s team believe he’ll be locked in for the second Test regardless of the second innings. Mark Waugh believes he’s just “loosened up a bit”, which helped him.

O’Keeffe believes Australia will bat for about 50 overs today and hope to have a lead of around 350, and leave themselves around 80-100 overs to bowl South Africa out. But O’Keeffe believes the match is still very much alive for both teams.

Waugh says the match will be decided by the first hour.

First ball of day four is around five minutes away.

Australia’s commanding position was certainly set up by Matthew Renshaw’s 190. But the bowlers stood tall on day three. Starc (2-63), Hazlewood (2-54), Cummins (3-54) and spinner Lyon (2-58) all played their part. Beau Webster snared one too, taking 1-23. Steve Smith, meanwhile, took four fine catches, including a couple of classics to move ahead of Joe Root (220) for the most catches from an outfielder.

The Proteas were their own worst enemies. Four of the top six got to 30, but none of them passed 50. Kerry O’Keeffe just said on Fox Cricket that “there are no demons” in this wicket and that’s true. The bounce is consistent, there’s no roaring spin and there was not much swing out there for the quicks either. Instead, Australia’s quicks, led by captain Pat Cummins, relied on pace, line and length. Oh, and some poor batsmanship from South Africa’s batsmen.

Australia start day four in complete control. They’re 0/33 and lead the Proteas by 139 runs.

It shapes as a massive day for recalled opener Nic Maddinson. After his extraordinary recall, the left-hander chopped on for a disappointing 33-ball duck in the first dig. But he would have slept better on Sunday night after moving swiftly to 17. A batsman who likes to take the game on, he’ll likely look to continue to bat freely. He’s also got Travis Head (10 not out) at the other end, so strap yourself in.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of day four of the first Test between Australia and South Africa in Durban.

My name is Christy Doran I will be with you on the blog, and we have Daniel Brettig at the ground. All our game coverage and Daniel’s report will be right here tonight, so don’t stray too far.