Du Plessis steals the strike, literally

Faf du Plessis was racing against the overall target to reach his fourth century of the series and fell behind when AB de Villiers took 16 runs off what became the penultimate over. That whittled the runs required down to six but du Plessis needed eight to reach a century. He knew two boundaries would take him there. He smashed the first ball of Mitchell Johnson's final over through midwicket in ungainly fashion to get four and then turned down a single when he pushed the next ball into the covers. Johnson bowled a wide, high full toss to concede a no-ball and reduce du Plessis' chances even further, and the batsman turned desperate. Du Plessis was given a full-toss but mistimed the stroke and sent it into mid-off's hands, denying himself a chance at history. No other batsman had scored four hundreds in a series before and, now, neither had du Plessis.

Unlike football and rugby, cricket officials are not often on the receiving end of players' attempts at persuasion, mostly because it will earn the enterprising cricketer a fine, but Russell Tiffin was. Aaron Finch was on 23 when Quinton de Kock believed he had edged behind and began a vociferous appeal. Wayne Parnell, who was bowling, eventually joined in too but Tiffin was unmoved. Replays showed the ball had come off the top of the pad as Finch shouldered arms and not the bat so Tiffin made the right call.

Player persuasion worked later in the day as well. In the 25th over of the chase, Wayne Parnell shouldered arms and was struck in front. Not only was the appeal turned down, umpire Tiffin also signalled leg-byes, though Parnell was not playing a shot. The Australia players had to ask Tiffin why he hadn't called it a dead ball, and only after the third umpire was called for were the leg-byes discounted. Those replays though raised questions over why the lbw appeal was turned down.

Two seasons ago, Hashim Amla went through a patch of succumbing to runs-out. It was the way he was dismissed three times in limited-overs matches in 2011/12,, twice at the hands of Australia, but today he got his own back. When Faf du Plessis called for a quick single when Amla was on 28, Amla accepted and hurried through. Maxwell was prowling the point area and hurled a direct hit to the wicket-keeper's end, where Amla was at full stretch, sliding his bat in. When he saw the stumps broken, Amla shook his head to indicate he did not think he was out but Australia were confident. The footage showed Amla's bat was well in when the ball came in.

Amla took a single off the final ball of the 16th over when he inside-edged Nathan Lyon past the stumps. Immediately afterwards drinks were taken and in the interruption in play, Faf du Plessis decided to steal strike. On the resumption, Amla should have faced the first ball of Mitchell Johnson's over but du Plessis did instead and nearly nicked it on its way through to Brad Haddin.

The idea of substitutes in cricket was short-lived but it still applies to one group of people in the game - umpires. After the first ball of the 28th over of the South African innings, Aleem Dar decided he was feeling too ill to continue standing in the match and made his way off the field. Zimbabwean umpire Jeremiah Matibiri took his place. Dar was taken to the hospital with a stomach bug.

While the absentees were engaging in verbal jousting from the distance of social media, the protagonists got stuck in on the field. Australia were losing their grip on the match when AB de Villiers joined du Plessis at the crease and Mitchell Johnson was unable to break through. He had a few things to say about it to de Villiers, perhaps asking the South African captain why he had not come in to bat in his regular No.4 position, and although de Villiers did not bother answering, du Plessis went to his childhood friend's defense and had a reply for Johnson that was more than just the push to mid-off that went for four.