Australia need six wickets on the final day after setting South Africa 421 at Kingsmead

Australia need six wickets on the final day in Durban after setting South Africa 421 and reducing the hosts to 102 for 4 by stumps

Australia declared their second innings at 314 for 6 in 58 overs at Kingsmead on Monday, leaving South Africa 421 to win the first Test and the best part of five sessions to bat.

South Africa lost four wickets in the time that remained and closed on 102 for 4 from 41 overs, still 319 short, with Aiden Markram 45 not out and Wiaan Mulder unbeaten on 5.

Josh Hazlewood took two of the four wickets to fall, Pat Cummins one, and Matt Renshaw the other — the first of his Test career, in a match he had already shaped with the bat.

A declaration before tea

Australia, who won the toss and batted, had made 390 in their first innings and South Africa 284. Resuming a second innings that was already well clear, Cummins batted on into the middle session and declared half an hour before the scheduled tea interval.

The runs came at better than five an over. Nic Maddinson made 48 from 38 balls, his highest Test score, before Anrich Nortje bowled him with a yorker, and Marnus Labuschagne contributed 37 from 58 — the same score he made in the first innings.

Cummins finished the innings himself with 32 not out from 12 balls, hitting four sixes, three of them in one over from Simon Harmer. Beau Webster was left unbeaten on 39.

Renshaw's match reaches 272

Renshaw, who made 190 in the first innings, added 82 from 99 balls in the second to finish the match with 272 runs.

He then took the ball and removed Temba Bavuma for 1, the South Africa captain inside-edging onto pad and into the hands of Maddinson at short leg for Renshaw's maiden Test wicket.

Smith struck on the helmet

Steve Smith was hit on the head by a Nortje bouncer on the fourth ball of his innings after trying to take evasive action. He was assessed on the field, cleared to continue, and went on to make 27 before Marco Jansen caught him on the boundary off Harmer.

Smith did not take the field when South Africa began their reply, watching the last three hours from the Australian viewing room, and will be assessed over the following 24 hours as a precaution.

The day before, Smith had passed Joe Root's record for the most catches by an outfielder in Test cricket.

Four down in the evening

South Africa's reply began badly. Ryan Rickelton edged Hazlewood to Alex Carey for 2, his second dismissal by the same bowler in the match, and after David Bedingham had batted with some control he was trapped lbw by Hazlewood for 46.

Bavuma followed for 1 and Tristan Stubbs, caught behind off Cummins, for the same score, three wickets going down for 13 runs in a sharp evening collapse. Hazlewood took 2-20 from eight overs and Nathan Lyon conceded 20 from 10 without reward.

“We are challenging [their batters] in different ways,” Webster said of Australia's plans, adding that South Africa's batters “will be disappointed they didn't get more runs”.

Markram the last line

Markram's 45 took him 115 balls and close to three hours, interrupted by shoulder tightness that needed attention and medication on the field; team management described the problem as no more than tightness.

No side has successfully chased a target of this size in a Test, so South Africa's final day is a question of survival rather than pursuit, with six wickets in hand and the second new ball available to Australia.

Coach Shukri Conrad has kept faith with a settled batting order, saying of his selections that “there is a large sense of loyalty to a side that has been successful”, but a second-innings failure in Durban would leave Rickelton and Stubbs under particular pressure before the second Test.

Scorecard: South Africa 284 and 102 for 4 (Markram 45*, Mulder 5*; Hazlewood 2-20) need 319 more runs to beat Australia 390 and 314 for 6 declared (Renshaw 82, Webster 39*, Cummins 32*).

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