Rickelton and Mulder Tons Set Up Final-Day Chase as Cape Town Test Goes the Distance

South Africa have dragged an epic Test series into its final day after Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder produced a stubborn partnership that frustrated Australia at Newlands. The pair put on 154 runs together, with Rickelton making 101 from 219 balls and Mulder 115 from 221, lifting the home side to 387 in the game's third innings and leaving Australia needing 288 to win on Saturday. It was an unlikely rescue act. Australia had their foot on South Africa's throat going into the penultimate day, but the unfashionable duo refused to buckle. Mulder surged to an emotional century in the dying light, hitting three sixes with every Australian fielder stationed on the boundary, to set up a finale worthy of the series. The chase would be Australia's biggest successful fourth-innings pursuit in 15 years, since Pat Cummins' memorable debut at the Wanderers in 2011, and the second largest ever at Cape Town. Australia won the first Test by 214 runs before South Africa hit back with an innings-and-31-run victory in the second, and now the series will be decided on the final day of the third.