South Africa 189 and 120 for 4 (Bavuma 37*, Verreynne 27*) trail Australia 575 for 8 dec by 266 runs

Australia were six wickets away from completing an innings victory in the Boxing Day Test, and sealing the series against South Africa. With a substantial first innings lead, Australia's four-man attack, who are missing Cameron Green thanks to a fractured finger, had plenty to work with on a surface that remains good for batting. Mitchell Starc continued to bowl despite a dislocated finger and Australia did not had to turn to any of their part-timers yet.

That may change as the day goes on and South Africa's last recognised batting pair, Temba Bavuma and Kyle Verreynne, continue to bat. By lunch, their partnership had grown to 55 runs off 84 balls, at a scoring rate of just under four runs to the over.

Starc and started the morning threateningly and both found Theunis de Bruyn's edge. He inside-edged a back of a length Cummins ball but it didn't carry to Alex Carey and was then drawn forward to drive a full Starc delivery but the edge fell short of Steven Smith at second slip. Scott Boland was brought on at first change and also got de Bruyn to nick one, but it fell short of third slip.

At the other end, Sarel Erwee worked his way to his highest score of the series - 21 - and seemed tighter outside offstump but did not last long enough to cash in. He was hit on the toe by a Starc yorker in front of middle and leg. Cummins reviewed and ball-tracking confirmed the delivery would go on to hit the stumps and Australia had their first wicket.

De Bruyn, who had been warned for backing up by Starc, continued his dalliance with danger as he slashed Boland over the slips before his luck ran out. He was kept on the back foot and edged a back of a length Boland delivery to second slip, where Smith took the catch despite Marnus Labuschagne diving across him.

Much like in the first innings, when South Africa went from 56 for 1 to 58 for 4 at lunch, they slipped from 47 for 1 to 57 for 3 and it was up to Bavuma and Khaya Zondo to rebuild. They were tentative at first and scored just three runs from 29 balls between them when Bavuma called Zondo through for a single after pushing Cummins to mid-off. Zondo responded but Travis Head's throw to the striker's end was quick and accurate and found him well short of his ground.

South Africa's last recognised batting pair - Bavuma and Verreynne - took them to lunch with both growing in confidence. Verreynne brought out his shots immediately and was off the mark with a reverse sweep off Nathan Lyon while Bavuma brought out his cover drive against Cummins and then Starc. The pair rotated strike well and seemed well set at the lunch break but South Africa remained well behind the game.