Temba Bavuma and Tristan Stubbs shared an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 82 and South Africa pulled away from Sri Lanka on the third day at St George’s Park. They extended the lead to 221 after taking a slim 30-run advantage from the first innings having bowling Sri Lanka out for 328 earlier in the day.

South Africa’s strong performance was sandwiched between Dane Paterson’s first Test five-for and Aiden Markram half-century, which set up their second innings. Bavuma is two runs away from a fourth successive fifty-plus score in the series, in which he has already collected more than 300 runs. Despite not playing any competitive cricket for two months before this series as he recovered from an elbow injury, Bavuma is seeing the ball better than anyone else and has added a more aggressive style to his strokeplay.

Ten wickets fell on the third day – the most in the Test so far – but conditions were still well suited to batting under blue skies. Sri Lanka’s seam attack still found some movement and there was also a hint of turn for Prabath Jayasuriya  which will likely please South Africa more than their visitors. With the surface expected to start deteriorating in dry conditions from day four, Keshav Maharaj could come into play later on. Before that, Sri Lanka will look for seven wickets with the knowledge that the highest successful chase at this ground is 271, and that South Africa are 50 runs away from that. But they will take heart from the glimpses of spin, especially as it has already brought some success.

Sri Lanka’s first threat came through spin when Prabath Jayasuriya foxed Tony de Zorzi by one that curved through the bat-pad as he looked to drive and ended a 55 run first-wicket stand. De Zorzi series ended with a disappointing total of 40 runs from four innings having come into the series on the back of registering 177 in Bangladesh.

Markram, his opening partner, fared better despite edging Asitha Fernando’s second delivery. The chance fell short of second slip. Markram looked increasingly confident as his innings grew but never fully comfortable. He approached fifty when he slashed at a short, wide Vishwa delivery and edged past gully for four and got there with a gorgeous cover drive which re-asserted his control. Importantly for him, it was his first fifty in 12 completed innings across formats. He only lasted six more balls before he edged a flashing cover drive off Vishwa and was caught one-handed by a diving Kusal Mendis, whose powers of anticipation were on full display.

Ryan Rickelton started with the same watchfulness as his first innings but would not continue to another century. He missed a Jayasuriya ball that skidded onto hit him in front of middle stump and had to go for 24.

Brief scores:
South Africa 358 and 191 for 3 (Aiden Markram 55, Temba Bavuma 48*, Tristan Stubbs 36*, Prabath Jayasuriya 2-75) lead  Sri Lanka 328 (Pathum Nissanka 89, Kamindu  Mendis 48, Angelo Mathews 44, Dinesh Chandimal 44;  Dane Paterson 5-71, Keshav Maharaj 2-65, Marco Jansen 2-100) by 221 runs

[Cricinfo]

A whirlwind century from hometown hero Travis Head blew India’s attack away and thrilled the Adelaide crowd on day two of the pink-ball Test. Head’s 140 off 141 balls swelled Australia’s first-innings lead to 157, leaving India facing a challenging final two hours under the floodlights. The visitors fell further behind when they lost half their side during that period when the pink ball was at its most potent. At stumps, India were 128 for 5, still 29 runs behind.

Head had walked out to generous applause from his home crowd and into a bit of trouble in the middle after Jasprit Bumrah had taken out both Nathan McSweeney and Steven Smith in a space of 13 balls. While McSweeney nicked a Bumrah special behind to Rishabh Pant, after managing to add just one to his overnight tally of 38, Steven Smith was caught down the leg side for 2.

After the floodlights had blacked out twice on the opening day, Australia’s batting threatened to black out on the second afternoon. Head, however, had other ideas and torched the innings with his no-holds-barred approach. He played and missed four of his first nine balls, but that certainly didn’t stop him from playing his shots. He stayed true to his method of staying leg-side of the ball and cracking it away into the shorter pockets of the ground square on the off side.

He also cleared the longer straight boundary when he crashed Ravichandran Ashwin over mid-off and then over his head for sixes, including a 110-metre monster hit over the sightscreen.

Head scored his first fifty off 63 balls and took only 48 more balls to convert it into a hundred. He celebrated the landmark by rocking his bat like a baby in tribute to his family’s new arrival, with his wife among a 51,642-strong home crowd. A hug from fellow South Australian Alex Carey was also part of the revelry.

Indian fans would be sick of the sight of Head by now. Since 2023, he has hit 1052 runs in 19 innings against India across formats at an average of 61.9 with three centuries, including tons in the previous cycle of the WTC final and 2023ODI World Cup final.

Head had set to work on Saturday by adding 65 with Marnus Labuschange and then 74 with Carey. Labuschagne’s innings was as fluent as Head’s but it was one that he needed to work his way back into form after having managed just 123 runs in his last ten Test innings, of which 90 came in one knock against New Zealand, before the Adelaide Test. Having been afforded some fairly comfortable leaves on the first evening, India’s seamers made Labuschagne play a lot more on the second afternoon. Whenever they erred too straight or into his pads, Labuschagne picked them away with compact drives and flicks.

Labuschagne got to his fifty off 114 balls and celebrated it by taking the erratic Harshit Rana for three fours in four balls. After having late-cut the taller, quicker Rana with ease, Labuschagne was caught at gully when he tried a similar shot off the shorter, slower pace of Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Head was more brutal on Rana, hitting him for 41 off 29 balls. It didn’t really matter what came down at Head. Short. Full. On the stumps. Outside off stump. Everything was dispatched.

Mohammed Siraj,  though, gave India some control and backed Bumrah up. He picked up his first wicket in the game when he extracted extra bounce and coaxed an outside edge from Carey.

Ravichandran  Ashwin’s only wicket was Mitchell Marsh but that was down to some good fortune. After shaping to defend a non-turning offbreak from Ashwin, Marsh walked off even before umpire Richard Illingworth raised his finger and didn’t even contemplate a review. There was nothing on Snicko, with replays also indicating that the ball had missed the outside edge.

Head attacked the second new ball as well, whipping Bumrah for a brace of fours. He then picked Siraj up for an imperious six over square leg in the next over, but Siraj struck back the next ball to york Head. Siraj released his pent-up emotions and gave Head a send-off that didn’t go too well with him or his beloved Adelaide crowd.

The boos rang out but Siraj proceeded to dismiss Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland soon after tea to wrap up Australia for 337. Bumrah, who had gone down with some discomfort, which prompted medical attention, four balls into his spell with the second new ball, recovered to knock Cummins over.

England have not won a Test series in New Zealand since 2007-08 but they are surely within sight of breaking that drought after a day of utter dominance at Basin Reserve. It was littered with landmarks and milestones: Gus Atkinson’s hat-trick, Jacob Bethell’s  highest first-class score, Joe Root reaching 50 in a Test innings for the 100th time. With three days left in the game, New Zealand already face being set a record fourth-innings chase.

Having wrestled their way into the ascendency on a topsy-turvy opening day, they pinned New Zealand to the canvas from the outset. Atkinson and Brydon Carse utilised what juice remained in the pitch to blow through the last five New Zealand wickets, securing a 155-run lead on first innings. Bethell and Ben Duckett then thrashed 187 runs in partnership to put England in a seemingly impregnable position just five sessions into the Test.

Bethell’s contribution was bittersweet, as he fell four runs short of a first hundred in any format. He nevertheless confirmed the range of his talent, in his second Test and batting at No. 3 for only the fourth time. He drove the scoreboard on after Zak Crawley had fallen in the second over – dismissed by Matt Henry for the fourth innings in succession – and outscored his partner during a free-flowing stand that went at more than 5 an over.

Nathan Smith bore the brunt of their initial onslaught, Bethell twice hooking him into the crowd and also proving strong on the drive. He survived when slashing Smith between keeper and slip, with Daryl Mitchell stood wide, on the way to a 52-ball half-century, and was not afraid to chance his arm as the second-wicket pair cemented England’s position.

Only on entering the 90s for the second time in his first-class career, and having copped a blow from a Will O’Rourke short ball the over before, did Bethell betray signs of nerves. A skied pull off Tim Southee landed in no-man’s land, before he nearly chopped on next ball. Four dabbed through third took him within range of a memorable Test century only to be caught behind aiming an expansive drive.

England’s lead was already past 350 and although Duckett, who was dropped by Tom Blundell down the leg side on 22, also failed to convert after a busy innings ended with a deflection on to his stumps off Southee, there was no let up for the home side after tea as Root and Harry Brook added 95 in untroubled fashion. Brook brought up his sixth 50-plus score in seven Test innings against New Zealand, before holing out off the bowling of Glenn Phillips, while Root also bobbed along to another half-century and into ratified company.

After Ollie Pope fell cheaply, Ben Stokes strode out and threw the bat for another fifty partnership from just 39 balls, suggesting that a declaration may not be far away. While New Zealand have achieved some great escapes in recent memory, not least when the man who now coaches England, Brendon McCullum, helped them to amass 680 for 8 against India at this ground a decade ago, and their pitches have a habit of flattening out, there’s no doubt they were deep in the hole.

One measure of how the day had gone for New Zealand was that their five-man attack managed to bowl zero maidens. Another was that none of their remaining batters faced more than Phillips’ 16 balls as they were steamrollered during the morning session.

Atkinson took the plaudits, having become the first man to take a Test hat-trick at Basin Reserve. It was the latest accolade in a stunning start to the 26-year-old’s Test career, less than six months on from claiming a 12-wicket haul on debut. It made him the seventh player to record a ten-for, a hundred (achieved against Sri Lanka, in fifth appearance) and a hat-trick, and in only his 10th Test – well ahead of the next-quickest, Irfan Pathan (26 matches).

Both Atkinson and Carse claimed four-fors as New Zealand collapsed inside 45 minutes of the morning session. After Kane Williamson’s 37 on day one, no other New Zealand batter made it to 20.

Brief scores:

England 280 and 378 for 5 (Joe Root 73*, Ben Stokes 35*) lead New Zealand 125 (Gus Atkinson 4-31, Brydon Carse 4-46) by 533 runs

(Cricinfo)