'It's win or lose. No draw tomorrow': Rickelton anticipates gripping final day

There is everything to play for on the final day of the final Test of the series between South Africa and Australia, with the series, the No.1 rankings and points on the World Test Championship table on the line.

"It's win or lose, I guess. No draw tomorrow," Ryan Rickelton, South Africa's wicket-keeper and one of two centurions from day four, said. "If you had to say that it's going down to the third Test, day five, with all three results on the cards or two results on the cards, yeah, I wouldn't have believed it. It's been a special series."

Rickelton later conceded that the third result, a draw which would mean a shared series, could become a possibility, especially as the pitch remains good for batting and has not deteriorated as much as expected. South Africa scored 247 runs in 87.2 overs on the fourth day, at a rate of 2.80 to the over, and lost six wickets, which suggests a day of hard-fought, tense Test cricket.

Though there was some turn out of the rough, but not the straight and the bounce has remained even and there is no sign that there is significant assistance for the bowlers and, as South Africa showed, a patient approach is key. With that in mind, Rickelton could see a world in which Australia batted out the day but didn't reach the target.

Asked if the slowness of the surface could make it too difficult for Australia to score the runs at the rate required, of just over three an over, or for South Africa to take ten wickets, this was his response. "It definitely felt like it was quite slow. And the ball obviously was soft as well so to beat the infield was quite hard. So maybe you're right. There might be three results tomorrow," he said, and then still backtracked a touch.

"I just think with that new ball, there's obviously runs available and there's obviously wickets too. It has been quite slow. If Australia obviously fancy having a go at it, it might just factor into it. For them to bat at effectively threes the whole day will be a big ask, especially on a slower, lower deteriorating wicket."

On the opposite side, Australia's assistant coach, James Franklin, who watched his attack scroll through Plans A to Z, largely settling on Plan S - the short ball, which has been largely successful for them. Indeed, no South African batter was out nicking off in this match, which also speaks to how little the ball has done off the surface for them.

For contrast, South Africa had seven Australian batters caught by the keeper or in the slips in the first innings but Franklin suspects they may also need to find alternative means of breaking through. "You'd expect that from any sort of pitch going to day four or day five, that a bit of air would go out of it and as the ball gets older and softer, balls won't carry through to keepers," Franklin said. "As we go into tomorrow, I would imagine South Africa will go perhaps through periods of tactics where they try the short ball as well. It's up to us, from a batting unit point of view, to be able to deal with that."

There is also the forecast of some cloud cover, which could have some effect on swing. When Mitchell Starc had the second new ball in hand on day one, under a thick blanket of cloud, he took four wickets in six balls, though Franklin would not be drawn into speculating on whether the same could happen on day five.

"I don't know. You'd probably have to ask the locals on that one," he said. "We've had unbelievable weather through these four days. There's an old tale about the tablecloth on the mountain and whether or not that can affect things here. We'll just deal with what's in front of us as a batting unit tomorrow and go about our business."

Generally, clouds on the mountain mean good bowling conditions but with this being the first Test played at Newlands in October, it's difficult to make any generalisations. Instead, it's worth appreciating how gripping the contest has been so far, which Rickleton, even in the aftermath of a potentially game-changing century, could do.

"It's ebbed and flowed properly in all three games," he said. "Both teams have edged ahead and the other one has clawed back and there's been some mistakes and some really good things done as well. It's been a cracking series and hopefully it comes down to a really good day for South Africa tomorrow."

For the record, the highest successful chase at Newlands is Australia's 334 for 6 against South Africa in March 2002, which was scored at 4.21 runs an over. Australia have now been asked to complete the second-highest at a slightly lower scoring rate. Do South Africa genuinely believe they have enough runs?

"We were in such a good position to drive home 300 or 350 and then obviously, the run-rate dropped for us. That was a bit frustrating," Rickelton said.

South Africa lost four wickets for 16 runs before a 10th-wicket partnership of 36 gave them what Rickelton hopes will be the advantage. "Still, to be able to get effectively 290 and ask them to do it on day five is big. Psychologically, it takes a lot out of you as well. Those last 20, 30 runs they managed to compile, hopefully, will be enough to take us over the edge. But you can never have too many runs in a day five chase."

And even though South Africa may have wanted more, they know they have no choice but to work with what they have.

"Shuks (head coach Shukri Conrad) always goes on the side of positivity. Whatever we get, it's going to be enough. It has to be enough," Rickelton said. "Temba (Bavuma) leans on it as well. He always emphasises that there's an opportunity to do something special for the team every single day. There will be an opportunity for someone to do something special tomorrow. And when it is your day, grab it with both hands."

As a wicket-keeper, that's a mantra you'd think Rickelton lives by.