By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Persistent rain has washed the entire day of play on the third day of the third and final test match between Australia and South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
Australia are currently 475 for four wickets in their first innings with opener Usman Khawaja unbeaten on 195 – five short of what would be his maiden test double-century.
The third day was the annual ‘Pink Day’ in honor of the late Jane McGrath, wife of former fast bowler Glenn, and the McGrath Foundation was fohas in her honor to raise awareness of breast cancer and funds for the prevention and treatment of the disease.
The rain-affected match had already lost a total of 49 overs over the first two days to bad weather. Australia have a winning 2-0 lead in the series.
In the end, the rain won. The entire third day of the third and final Test between Australia and South Africa was washed out, with play abandoned shortly before 4pm after rain finally stopped falling but left the ground too wet to drain in time.
With Australia still in the first innings of the match at 475-4, the washout narrows their chances of forcing a win to whitewash the series, though a draw should still be enough for them qualify for the World Test Championship final in June.
Cricket Australia won’t be as cheerful about the weather, needing to refund tickets for all of those attendees and the thousands more who looked at the sky and stayed at home.
However, it was a great result for South Africa, getting through an entire day without conceding a run or losing a wicket. According to statistical analysts CricViz, it was the only day of this Test summer when the opposition’s percentage chance of losing the match did not increase. A day of rest would have been welcome too, mentally and physically, after two days in the field.
AUSTRALIA: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Renshaw Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (capt), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar (capt) Sarel Erwee, Heinrich Klaasen, Temba Bavuma, Khaya Zondo, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.