On the third day, a century from Ponting and late hitting from Gilchrist helped Australia to limit the deficit and prevent the follow on, but they were still behind on first innings. An hour's play was lost due to rain, but when it did start Ponting and Hussey batted together for two and a half hours, adding 130 before Botha got his first Test wicket when a straighter ball from the spinner had Hussey caught behind. The Cricinfo report claimed that Hussey was "extremely lucky to survive an lbw shout on 9 off Nel", but he did go on to make 45; Ponting was on 97 when the partnership was broken, and brought up the century with a flick wide of mid-on. He thus became the sixth man to score a century in his 100th Test.