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Australian coach Tim Nielsen says his team will be in the box seat if they can add another 50 runs to their overnight total when the first Test against South Africa resumes at the WACA Ground on Saturday.
The Australians start day four at 7-228, an overall lead of 322, with Brad Haddin (39no) and Jason Krejza (28no).
“I think the wicket might be just starting to play a few tricks, a couple are starting to spin and bounce a little bit,” Nielsen said on Friday night.
“There’s a couple of cracks that might be opening up a bit more.
“If we can get another 30 or 40 or 50 tomorrow, 350-plus is always tough work on the fourth innings of a Test match anywhere.
“You always like a few more runs but the way the game has panned out over the last three days it seems to be a pretty competitive total that we’ve got on the board at the moment.
“The bowlers have obviously been on top for most of the game, we haven’t had a batsman get 100 here, which is unusual.”
South African batsman AB de Villiers was confident his team could chase down anything around the 350-mark.
“That’s what I feel comfortable with . . . I think 350 is a good score to chase,” de Villiers said.
“It’s not easy obviously, it’s going to be very tough but I think it’s reachable with our batting line-up.”
The biggest ever successful run chase at the WACA Ground was Australia’s 8-342 against India in 1977-78.
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