South Africa set Australia an imposing target of 539 runs to win the first test after declaring on 540 for eight in the fourth over after lunch on the fourth day at the WACA on Sunday. Faf du Plessis brought South Africa's second innings to a close after Vernon Philander had been bowled for 73 by Australia captain Steve Smith. The highest successful fourth-innings run chase in test cricket was the 418-7 West Indies scored to beat Australia at Antigua in May 2003, while South Africa scored 414-4 to beat their hosts at the WACA in 2008. The Proteas will be confident of taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with nearly five sessions remaining over the last two days of the test. After two days of dominance from South Africa, the hosts would have arrived at the ground aiming to remove the last few batsman as quickly as possible and get on with the run chase.

Source: dna November 06, 2016 07:12 UTC