A limping batter, who is also the captain, grinding it out to the best of his abilities; his partner, usually an aggressive strokeplayer, battling his instincts and showing impressive restraint; and a pack of deadly bowlers, who looked unplayable the other day, scratching their head in utter frustration — it was good old Test cricket at Lord’s on Friday.

Set a target of 282 to win the World Test Championship, South Africa soldiered on with an iron will, reaching stumps at 213/2. Aiden Markram (102 batting) and skipper Temba Bavuma (65 batting) won the day for the Proteas, stonewalling the Aussie attack.

If Test cricket is all about patience, Markram and Bavuma came with a lot of it on the third day of the game. After the Proteas lost the wickets of Ryan Rickelton (6) and Wiaan Mulder (27), Markram and Bavuma put their head down for an old-world grind. The result? An unbroken 143-run match-turning stand.

Australia, the defending champions, tried everything, but still failed to find a way through the Mark­ram-Bavuma wall.

Markram curbed his shot-ma­king to a great extent for most of his innings. It was only in the last session of the day that he opened up, bringing up his eighth Test ton with a flicked boundary on the leg side.

While Markram had more runs, it was Bavuma whose resilience was more eye-catching. The stocky South Africa captain was limping almost all through his innings after picking up a hamstring strain before the tea break. His restricted mobility meant South Africa lost out on a few runs. But his team need his grit more than the runs. He stood there like a short-but-unscaleable wall.

Bavuma, however, was dropped by Steve Smith in the slips early in his innings. In the process, Smith suffered a compound dislocation of his right little finger.

The day, however, had started quite differently. It was Australia who had the upper hand after Mitchell Starc, batting at No. 9, authored an unbeaten half-century. More importantly, he put on a 59-run last wicket partnership with Josh Hazlewood before Australia, who started the day on 144/8, were dismissed for 207 in their second innings. Kagiso Rabada (4/59) finished with a match haul of 9/110.

Starc’s 58 not out off 136 balls did frustrate the South Africans, who had reduced Australia to 73/7 before running into resistance. But to their credit, the Proteas, even in their frustration, did not miss the lesson Starc’s batting taught them. They realised that patience at the crease was directly proportional to runs, more so as the conditions had eased out considerably for the batters.

As things stood at the end of the third day’s play, it’s all about South Africa now. They will either score 69 more runs to record their biggest-ever success on the cricket field, or they will suffer a dramatic choke, like they have done so many times in the past, to lose another big match.