Former Aussie paceman Damien Fleming believes Australia has what it takes to claim victory in the final day of the third Test against South Africa.
The opening four days were fraught with bad light and rain delay, with a total of 170 overs already lost as the day five begins.
While a result seems far-fetched as the game is still in the first innings phase, Fleming says the unpredictability of the SCG surface and the “brittle” South African batting line-up may allow Australia to take all 14 wickets on the final day of play.
“We’ll find out about the pitch, there’s so much to go through,” Fleming told SEN Test Cricket.
“Yes, we can get the 14 wickets. South Africa (have) a brittle batting line-up (and) nothing to play for besides pride. They really haven’t shown a lot of bat.
“The pitch is probably Day Three … so hopefully there is some incentive for the two spinners, Nathan Lyon and (Ashton) Agar.
“I think (Pat) Cummins and (Josh) Hazlewood will just be a nightmare, they are on any surface, so I’m hopeful.
"He's missed Test cricket... he wants to cash in at the SCG."@bowlologist is rapt with Josh Hazlewood's return to the side after taking out Dean Elgar #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/JBWkcBbnaq
— SEN Cricket (@SEN_Cricket) January 7, 2023
“We’ll get a pretty good indicator, I think, in this first hour. If things go quickly for Australia and we get into the second innings pre-lunch, we can win this.”
Despite disruption on day four, Hazlewood made an impressive return to the Test arena taking 2-29 while captain Cummins (3-29) and Lyon (1-65) also took crucial wickets.
South Africa will enter day five on 6-149, still 326 runs shy of Australia’s first innings total of 4d-475. Should they fail to make another 127 runs, Australia will enforce a follow-on in an ambitious attempt to claim a result.