Twitter Reactions: South Africa's lead nears 300 amidst Bancroft incident

The third day of the ongoing third Test match between South Africa and Australia was hugely dramatic with even as the home side continued to dominate. More than the action in the middle, it was the controversy created Cameron Bancroft which was trending as he was caught tampering the ball with a yellow coloured chip-like object on camera. Amidst all the happenings, South Africa stormed ahead significantly in the game courtesy Aiden Markram and AB de Villiers. However, Twitterati trolled and bashed the Aussies for their poor tactics.

The day began with the visitors 9 down with the score of 245 on the board as the overnight pair of Tim Paine and Josh Hazlewood could add only 10 runs more to the total. South Africa earned a crucial lead of 56 runs in the first innings but had to bat better in the second innings to seal their dominance on the game. But the Aussies were never going to give up easily as they scalped Dean Elgar early who had carried his bat in the first innings.

Bancroft controversy deviates the game

The reverse swing had brought the Aussies in the game big time as the duo of Aiden Markram and AB de Villiers played them gamely. Meanwhile, as the tea break was nearing, Cameron Bancroft was found scruffing the ball with an object and was seen doing it by holding it in his middle and index finger. He was also being informed of being caught on the camera by the reserve player Peter Handscomb who got the message from the coach Darren Lehmann through a walkie-talkie.

Amidst the controversy, De Villiers completed his half-century which defined his character completely as the hosts lost few quick wickets after the loss of Markram who scored a classy 84. In the end, the play was stopped due to bad light with South Africa leading by 294 runs with 5 wickets in hand. While De Villiers was unbeaten on 51, De Kock was playing an attacking knock of 29.

Twitter though was miffed over Australia’s poor tactics which marred such a wonderful Test match and bashed over their actions.

Here’s how they reacted during the day’s play:

https://twitter.com/therealThabiso7/status/977528893065265152/video/1