Australia vs South Africa LIVE: Khawaja sends Cummins clear message as massive resolution looms

Usman Khawaja stated it could be “harsh” if he was denied the prospect of claiming his first Take a look at double century by a declaration in Australia’s third Take a look at towards South Africa.

The entire third day’s play was washed out by rain in Sydney on Friday

Australia skipper Pat Cummins now has a call to make forward of Saturday’s fourth day: whether or not to declare the crew’s first-innings at 475-4 and get the Proteas in to bat or give Khawaja the prospect to carry up a landmark double century.

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Khawaja is stranded on 195. Matt Renshaw, who examined optimistic for Covid initially of the match, is 5 not out.

“I believe it’d be fairly harsh if he (Cummins) bowled right away. I don’t assume that’s going to occur,” Khawaja advised reporters after one other irritating day within the rain-hit match on the Sydney Cricket Floor.

“He’s been making a couple of jokes… (saying) ‘I’ve let (South African skipper) Dean Elgar know that we need to exit and have a bowl right away’.

“We might go on the market and get a couple of extra runs actually shortly or we might declare just about right away. I’m not the captain… I don’t make these selections,” stated the batsman.

One other deciding issue for Cummins would be the state of the SCG pitch following three days of rain interruptions.

The frequent rain and overlaying of the wicket has prevented the pitch from drying out and deteriorating from put on and tear for the good thing about Australia’s two chosen spinners, Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar.

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Australia have gone into the match with solely two chosen front-line pacemen – Josh Hazlewood and Cummins — making their activity much more troublesome if the pitch just isn’t as conducive to spin because the hosts had hoped.

Australia are pushing for a sequence whitewash to seal a spot within the World Take a look at Championship ultimate in London in June.

“Time is the enemy. A end result could be very unlikely, let’s be trustworthy, however it’s nonetheless potential,” Khawaja stated.

South Africa are naturally not as involved concerning the climate as they attempt to keep away from the ignominy of a 3-0 drubbing.

The forecast is for improved circumstances on Saturday with much less rain anticipated, earlier than sunny circumstances on Sunday’s ultimate day.

Australia are 2-0 up within the sequence after successful the opening Take a look at by a six-wicket rout in Brisbane inside two days after which hammering the Proteas by an innings and 182 runs in Melbourne.

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