Amla and de Villiers set target of 632

Hashim Amla was denied a double century and Dean Elgar completed a pair on debut, but South Africa otherwise continued on their merry way to a daunting lead of 529 over Australia at tea on day three of the third Test in Perth. AB de Villiers unfurled a trio of reverse-sweeps against Nathan Lyon to reach his first Test century as a wicketkeeper, his impudence summing up the gulf between the sides as the match ticked past its halfway point.

Australia's bowling effort improved on the wastefulness of the second evening, but there was a lack of threat about the hosts that reflected the mighty advantage South Africa had already wrested before play began. Mitchell Starc defeated Jacques Kallis and beat the bat every now and then, while Mitchell Johnson ended Amla's cultured stay with a reflex return catch then roughed Elgar up as prelude to an lbw.

Resuming with a lead of 292, South Africa rose to salute Amla when he flicked Johnson to fine leg for his 18th Test century, a stroke representative of his legside mastery. Amla's movement across outside off stump to play to leg was exaggerated at times, but apart from the sliced drive from Johnsons' wide ball that just eluded Michael Hussey's reach he was seldom troubled.

Kallis rumbled along comfortably enough himself until Michael Clarke swung Starc around to the Prindiville Stand end, teasing out a top-edged hook shot that Johnson held well at fine leg, the ball dying into the breeze late in its path. De Villiers took his time to get established but accompanied Amla to the lunch interval with an enormous amount of time left to stretch Australia's eventual target.

There was acceleration on resumption, de Villiers advancing to ping Lyon down the ground for a straight six, while Amla took advantage of Michael Hussey's introduction with a pair of boundaries. Clarke responded to the calls of the WACA crowd by handing Ricky Ponting a bowl for the final over before the second new ball became due.

Given how Starc and John Hastings started with it Clarke might have been better off keeping Ponting on, as de Viliers and Amla attacked with impunity. It took Johnson's introduction to draw a few false strokes, and ultimately a wicket when Amla blocked a drive back to see the chance snaffled by Johnson's outstretched right hand.

Elgar wore a sharp blow on the elbow before playing inside a fuller delivery to be pinned LBW - though this did not stop him from seeking an imprudent review in the manner of Ponting the day before. Two wickets in an over did little to unsettle de Villiers though, and the reverse-sweeps to go to three figures summed up the marriage of skill and invention he has used so well as a batsman and now a wicketkeeper also.