Confident South Africa eye victory against Australia

SYDNEY – South Africa are confident they can go on to beat Australia after a perfectly executed game plan left them in control of the third test match on Tuesday.

Australia finished the day in trouble at 54-3 after South Africa piled on 451 for nine declared, aided by centuries from Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince. The tourists need to win the final test to square the series after drawing the opening match and losing the second but Kallis said he was confident they could do it.”We’ve put ourselves in a good position now and it’s just a matter of following through,” said Kallis, who made 111.”We’ve got Australia under pressure and if we can carry on putting the ball in the right areas there’s enough in the wicket to help the bowlers.”Kallis said everything had finally gone right for the South Africans after they had blown their chances of winning either of the previous tests by dropping 11 catches.Prince scored 119 as he and Kallis put on 219 for the fourth wicket to set up the declaration.Then Charl Langeveldt bowled Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer in the final hour and Brad Hodge fell to Andre Nel in the last over of the day.”We wanted to get 450 and have about 15 overs at them and that’s exactly what happened,” Kallis said.”We would have been happy with two (wickets) so to get the third there was an absolute bonus and gives us a lot of confidence going into tomorrow.”LITTLE OPPORTUNITY Prince, who completed his third test hundred after starting the day on 62, said he was more pleased about the team’s prospects of winning than his own contribution.”Obviously it’s given me great pleasure to do this against Australia in Australia but most importantly it’s put the team in a good position,” he said.Australia coach John Buchanan paid tribute to Kallis and Prince but said his team had not given up hope of winning the match.”It’s our job now to resurrect the ship a bit and put ourselves in a position where, if we can’t get a lead over South Africa, we put them in a position where they have to make some running,” Buchanan said.”They were looking for a backbone for an innings and they got that from Kallis and Prince.They really gave us little opportunity.They’ve put themselves in a good position by the end of the day.”Buchanan said the Australian batsmen had every reason to feel confident they could amass a big score on a flat Sydney Cricket Ground pitch.”We’re going to get our noses in front, that’s what we’re going to try and do.”It’s a long haul, but it’s still a very good batting wicket,” he said.- Nampa-ReutersThe tourists need to win the final test to square the series after drawing the opening match and losing the second but Kallis said he was confident they could do it.”We’ve put ourselves in a good position now and it’s just a matter of following through,” said Kallis, who made 111.”We’ve got Australia under pressure and if we can carry on putting the ball in the right areas there’s enough in the wicket to help the bowlers.”Kallis said everything had finally gone right for the South Africans after they had blown their chances of winning either of the previous tests by dropping 11 catches.Prince scored 119 as he and Kallis put on 219 for the fourth wicket to set up the declaration.Then Charl Langeveldt bowled Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer in the final hour and Brad Hodge fell to Andre Nel in the last over of the day.”We wanted to get 450 and have about 15 overs at them and that’s exactly what happened,” Kallis said.”We would have been happy with two (wickets) so to get the third there was an absolute bonus and gives us a lot of confidence going into tomorrow.”LITTLE OPPORTUNITY Prince, who completed his third test hundred after starting the day on 62, said he was more pleased about the team’s prospects of winning than his own contribution.”Obviously it’s given me great pleasure to do this against Australia in Australia but most importantly it’s put the team in a good position,” he said.Australia coach John Buchanan paid tribute to Kallis and Prince but said his team had not given up hope of winning the match.”It’s our job now to resurrect the ship a bit and put ourselves in a position where, if we can’t get a lead over South Africa, we put them in a position where they have to make some running,” Buchanan said.”They were looking for a backbone for an innings and they got that from Kallis and Prince.They really gave us little opportunity.They’ve put themselves in a good position by the end of the day.”Buchanan said the Australian batsmen had every reason to feel confident they could amass a big score on a flat Sydney Cricket Ground pitch.”We’re going to get our noses in front, that’s what we’re going to try and do.”It’s a long haul, but it’s still a very good batting wicket,” he said.- Nampa-Reuters