The Wade-Shamsi confrontation

In a series dominated so far by batsmen, a fresh morning in Port Elizabeth and a new bowler in Kyle Abbott provided the sort of early movement seldom seen previously. Aaron Finch was nowhere near an outswinger that cut back sharply to pluck off stump. In his next over, Abbott stung David Warner with another break back, this one swinging and then seaming in the same direction to go between bat and pad and flip off the bails.

Australia's poor start with the bat did not stop Matthew Wade from bringing a typically pugilistic attitude to the batting crease. He met his match in Tabraiz Shamsi, the pair squaring off in a series of verbal exchanges that culminated when Wade ran down the wicket for a single. He ran very close to the general vicinity of Shamsi and conspicuously declined to tuck in his elbow. Faf du Plessis complained to the umpires and Nigel Llong subsequently had a word to both combatants. It remains to be seen whether the match referee Chris Broad will want to have a word too.

Australia's bowlers put in their best shift of the series defending a meagre total, and managed to sustain periods of pressure on the South African batsmen. One of these passages led to a du Plessis skier that floated above Adam Zampa, appearing to drop down for the easiest of catches. But Zampa lost track of the ball's flight and let his hands get too low and far apart, leading to a spillage that caused brows to furrow all round. The error looked uncharacteristic - Zampa had claimed a good catch in the deep to remove Quinton de Kock.

A further feisty episode took place when Wade was accompanied by David Warner at slip at the start of a Zampa over to Farhaan Behardien. Warner offered up plenty of noise, to the point that the next ball started to be delayed. Once again Llong was seen to get involved, counselling Steven Smith to keep his men under control. For his part, Behardien responded by striking a full-toss to the cover boundary, which rather summed up the day.