First hour of day four will be key for SA batters says Harmer

South Africa cannot afford to look too far ahead at Newlands, with Simon Harmer warning that the first hour of day four will be far more important than any target the Proteas might have in mind.

The hosts closed Thursday on 140/4 in their second innings, an overall lead of 40 runs after Australia had taken a 100-run first-innings advantage.

Matthew Breetzke and Ryan Rickelton will resume on Friday with six wickets in hand.

While a lead of 200 or more would clearly give South Africa something substantial to defend, Harmer believes focusing on a number now would be counterproductive.

“It’s a long way off,” Harmer said. “It’s cliched and simplistic, but the most important part of this game for us is the first hour tomorrow morning.”

South Africa need to ensure they do not allow Australia back into the contest early, with Harmer stressing that the team cannot become distracted by what it hopes its eventual total might be.

“We can’t get too caught up in what we want and what would be nice and what is defendable,” he said.

“Whatever that looks like is not achievable if that first hour doesn’t go well.”

That makes the opening exchanges particularly important for Breetzke and Rickelton, who will have to negotiate an Aussie attack that has already accounted for four wickets in the innings.

Harmer also expects the surface to become increasingly influential as the Test progresses, with the footmarks already beginning to offer assistance to the spinners.

“If you look at how the wicket changed from this morning to this evening, there’s been quite a dramatic change,” he said.

“I definitely think that spin is probably going to come into it a lot more than it has in the first two-and-a-half days. It was quite evident to see tonight [Thursday] how the ball was turning out of the footmarks.”

Harmer’s own contribution with the ball was central to SA keeping Australia’s first-innings lead to 100 runs.

Australia resumed on 330/4, but Harmer removed Josh Inglis for 102 and then Alex Carey for 80 four overs later, breaking an 185-run fifth-wicket partnership that had threatened to put the visitors in complete control.

Australia eventually reached 429, with Harmer finishing with 4/104 as South Africa took the final six wickets for 59 runs.

Harmer believes that recovery should not be viewed separately from the work done by the attack on day two, despite criticism of South Africa’s bowling.

“I know there’s been a lot of media attention about how we bowled yesterday, but the reason that we got the wickets this morning was because of the investment put in yesterday,” he said.

South Africa then found themselves 31/2 before Marques Ackerman and Temba Bavuma rebuilt the innings with a 64-run stand.

Ackerman’s 62 and Bavuma’s 35 helped drag the hosts back into the contest before both fell late in the day.

Harmer urged the remaining batters to trust the process rather than attempt to force the game.

“For me, the hardest part of batting is the first 20 balls,” he said. “As you start to face more balls, everything starts to slow down.”

With Australia’s attack still capable of creating sustained pressure, Harmer expects day four to be about surviving those difficult periods and capitalizing when opportunities arise.

“They’re going to bowl well,” he said. “It’s just about navigating through the tough periods and understanding that there is going to be an opportunity for you to score more freely somewhere down the line.”

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