Inglis and Carey leave Australia one run ahead as Jansen reaches 100 Test wickets

Australia closed the second day at Newlands on 330 for 4, one run in front of South Africa, with Josh Inglis unbeaten on 85

Josh Inglis and Alex Carey came together with Australia four down and 144 behind, and were still there at stumps on day two of the third Test. Their unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 145 carried the tourists from 185 for 4 to 330 for 4 in 90 overs, a first-innings lead of one run with six wickets in hand.

South Africa had twice pulled the innings back, through Simon Harmer in the morning and Marco Jansen after lunch, but could find nothing in the final session on a surface that eased as the day went on.

The match decides the series. Australia won the first Test in Durban by 214 runs, South Africa levelled it in Gqeberha by an innings and 31 runs, and the winner here takes top place in the Test rankings.

Harmer strikes twice in an over

Travis Head and Matt Renshaw had put on 58 for the first wicket when Harmer was brought on and bowled Head with his first ball of the match, the opener dragging on for 41 from 49 balls.

Marnus Labuschagne lasted five deliveries of the same over before edging to Aiden Markram at first slip for a duck, leaving Australia 58 for 2 and the off-spinner with two wickets in six balls.

Harmer was not rewarded again and finished the day with 2-84, but the over was the closest South Africa came to breaking the innings open.

Renshaw and Green rebuild

Renshaw and Cameron Green, back in the side after injury, took Australia to 90 for 2 at lunch without hurry and then added 126 for the third wicket.

Green made 65 from 110 balls with eight fours and two sixes, the more fluent of the pair, while Renshaw ground out 74 either side of the interval.

Jansen ended both in the space of three deliveries, having Renshaw caught behind and then drawing the edge from Green to leave Australia 185 for 4 and the match level again.

A hundredth wicket and a rankings double for Jansen

Renshaw's dismissal was Jansen's 100th Test wicket, reached in his 24th match and making him the 18th South African bowler to the mark. He finished the day with 2-37.

The same week brought confirmation from the ICC that Jansen now tops the Test bowling rankings, ahead of Mitchell Starc, and the all-rounder list, ending a run of more than four years at the head of it for Ravindra Jadeja.

He bowled through the evening with a stiff back. "It's a little bit stiff. Not sure what it is. So, we'll take deeper [look] into that and see what the problem is," said bowling coach Piet Botha, who added that there was "nothing serious at this stage".

Inglis and Carey see out the evening

Inglis, in the side with Steve Smith sidelined by a neck complaint, reached stumps on 85 not out from 111 balls with nine fours and two sixes, and survived a South African review along the way.

Carey was the anchor, 51 not out from 126 balls, and the partnership took 108 balls to reach fifty and 168 to reach its hundred before opening out for 44 runs in the last ten overs.

The second new ball, taken at 80.1 overs, brought South Africa nothing. Kagiso Rabada went wicketless through 18 overs for 81.

What South Africa need on day three

South Africa had scored 329 on the opening day, Marques Ackerman falling five short of a century on 95 and Markram making 78, before Starc took 6-72.

Botha wants the scoring rate squeezed before the wickets come. "Basically line and length for long periods of time will be crucial," he said, adding that he hoped the Australian batters would "get in and they feel [they're] not scoring quickly [enough]".

He expects Gerald Coetzee to be central to that. "Gerald is quick, you see the pace that he can bowl," Botha said. "With his pace, he is going to put pressure on the opposition."

Scorecard: South Africa 329 (Ackerman 95, Markram 78, Starc 6-72); Australia 330 for 4 (Inglis 85*, Renshaw 74, Green 65, Carey 51*) lead by one run at stumps on day two.

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