Hodge, in his third test, who had contributed with a two-hour 41 in the first innings, survived a dropped catch on 13 – and never looked back. He added an unbroken 126 with Hussey before stumps on day three, made his century off 198 balls on the fourth morning despite Hussey departing in the second over of the day, and took a further 134 balls to make it a double. Ponting then declared, and tea was taken with an Australian total of eight for 528 – which set a target of 491 for South Africa, which would have been a world record chase. With both openers out before the end of the fourth day, South Africa needed a further 406 runs to win for their last eight wickets.