Close Australia 331 for 5 (Hayden 122, M Waugh 53, Nel 2-64)
scorecard

It was a tough day for South Africa, an even tougher day for the Waugh twins, and a positively miserable one for Allan Donald, who was helped from the field in agony and apparently in tears. But Matthew Hayden was oblivious to the subplots going on around him. By the time he fell - strangled down the leg side in the 68th over of the day - Australia had already made a commanding 272 for 4, and Hayden himself had made 122, his fourth century in consecutive Tests. Patches have rarely been so purple.

Hayden was magnificent. He started quietly, as Justin Langer (28 from 31 balls) and then Ricky Ponting (39 from 43) galloped off into the distance. But before anyone had really taken notice, Hayden had passed 50 and was middling his trademark cover-drives with the subtlety of an axe-murderer.

Even so, he should not even have survived his first over. South Africa have suffered enough at the hands of Langer and Hayden to know not to give them the slightest chance, but Hayden had yet to score when Makhaya Ntini, taking the new ball for the first time in Tests, induced a wafty nick that burst straight through the grasp of Jacques Kallis at second slip.

That was all the encouragement the Aussies needed. Brushing aside a swift and impressive spell from Ntini, Australia put on 122 in the first session, for the loss of Langer - lbw to Donald for 28 (46 for 1) and Ponting - unluckily adjudged caught behind off Andre Nel for 39 (113 for 2), despite replays proving he had missed the ball, but flicked the pad with his bat.

Ponting's dismissal, however unfortunate, brought Mark Waugh to the crease for a gruelling ten-minute spell before lunch. Fighting for his place like never before, Waugh was greeted with the now-customary bouncer, got off the mark with a uppercut to the third-man boundary, and barely reached the break as a top-edged leg-side steer just eluded Ashwell Prince, diving back and across at mid-on.

Barracked by a partisan crowd that gleefully reminded him of his predicament, Waugh continued to take on the short ball with little success or conviction. But with his score on 14, he finally middled one - and poleaxed Gary Kirsten at short leg with a ferocious downward pull that clattered into Kirsten's helmet and onto his right eye. Kirsten went to hospital for a scan; Waugh grew in confidence. He half-stroked, half-groped his way to a personally-vital 53, before tickling a leg-side catch to Boucher off Ntini (224 for 3).

Exit one Waugh, enter another. After the week he's had, Steve Waugh seemed a dead-cert for a huge century to rub in the face of the selectors. Ntini though wasn't reading the script. His first delivery - from round the wicket - struck a vicious blow on Waugh's unguarded elbow, and Ntini might have had his man several times in a withering spell. Waugh gritted it out - as he has always done - though the contrast with the serene Hayden at the other end could not have been starker.

Waugh eventually tired of his uncertainty, and he took to Kallis with the exuberance - and rashness - of his youth, crashing one extraordinary back-foot calypso-drive to the cover boundary. But Kallis had the last laugh, suckering Waugh with a wide long-hop that Herschelle Gibbs pouched low to his left at backward point. At 293 for 5, Australia had surrendered some of the initiative.

Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist ensured there would be no further inroads, but the day ended on a sad note when Allan Donald was helped from the field, apparently in tears, after pulling up in his follow-through. It was too early to judge the nature of the injury, but judging by the standing ovation he received, Donald's magnificent career could conceivably be at an end.

Teams
South Africa 1 Gary Kirsten, 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Neil McKenzie, 5 Boeta Dippenaar, 6 Ashwell Prince, 7 Mark Boucher (capt & wk), 8 Nicky Boje, 9 Andre Nel, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Allan Donald

Australia 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Mark Waugh, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Damien Martyn, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Shane Warne, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath

Andrew Miller is on the staff of Wisden.com

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