Dean Elgar (127) and JP Duminy (141) put South Africa on the driver's seat as their hundreds took their side to 390/6 at the close of play on day three of the Perth Test, armed with a handsome 388-run lead. Australia had a mini-resurgence late in the day by scalping up the wickets of Duminy at the stroke of tea and got three more in the final session.
The Australian bowling is not nearly as bad as what the scorecard would suggest. Every bowler who came on to bowl had his moments. Elgar survived many nervous moments but soldiered on. With men patrolling the slip cordon, the South African opener prodded tentatively at at times, but the Australian bowlers had little luck.
At the other end, Duminy was in cracking form and did not give the bowlers an inch. He played shots all around the wicket and at times, even put away some of the good deliveries. Duminy was in such good touch, countering the pressure that Australia built at the other end with Elgar.
Elgar, whose eyes lit up when Nathan Lyon came on, should have been caught by Mitchell Starc, who lost the ball in the sunlight, and made a mess of an easy chance at mid-off. Australia rarely got opportunities from there as the Elgar-Duminy pair piled on the frustration on a scorching day at the WACA.
Australia's reward finally came when Duminy edged the relentless Peter Siddle to keeper Peter Nevill. The batsman stood his ground before Australia took a review, which showed that the ball took a nick as the 250-run stand came to end. The hosts took the post-tea session as Siddle, Josh Hazlewood and Starc got in among the wickets, dismissing the Proteas middle-order cheaply.
Brief score:
South Africa 242 (Quinton de Kock 84, Temba Bavuma 51; Mitchell Starc 4/74, Josh Hazlewood 3/70) & 390/6 (JP Duminy 141, Dean Elgar 127; Peter Siddle 2/47, Josh Hazlewood 2/97) lead Australia 244 (David Warner 97, Shaun Marsh 63; Vernon Philander 4/56, Keshav Maharaj 3/56) by 388 runs.