Australia have fallen to a series defeat in South Africa and lost top spot in the Test rankings after a calamitous morning in Cape Town led to a 176-run defeat. On a horror final day of the series for Australia on Saturday, they were dismissed for 111 in pursuit of 288 to lose the three-Test series 2-1.
Australia lost Matt Renshaw and Marnus Labuschagne in the opening over at Newlands and never recovered. While Pat Cummins’s 90-ball vigil and Nathan Lyon’s unbeaten 33 in the hope of a draw delayed the inevitable, their fate was sealed when Simon Harmer bowled Josh Hazlewood just before tea.
Kagiso Rabada took three for 39 as he became the fastest man to 350 Test wickets, before Harmer’s six for 16 ripped the heart out of the tourists.
The chaos was summed up when Cameron Green defended a ball past Marques Ackerman at silly point, took off and ran Josh Inglis out. Harmer also took two wickets in one over during the collapse, getting Alex Carey reverse-sweeping before Cooper Connolly was caught behind for a duck.
Australia’s lower-order tried to shield Green from facing Harmer, but the spinner swapped ends and bowled the right-hander immediately to make it 62 for 8.
Only Travis Head (14) and Green (27) reached double figures out of Australia’s top-eight, with the side at least avoiding being all out for less than 100 in consecutive Tests for the first time since 1936-37.
“The trend of this game was once you got yourself in, there were runs to be scored and you could face lots of balls,” Cummins said. “Within the first hour, the game was away from us. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance.”
Australia’s batting was badly exposed in Gqeberha last week when they were bowled out for 99 on the fourth day, asked to follow on and lost. But Saturday at Newlands was even more disastrous, with the series on the line.
Renshaw was out in the first over when he tickled a ball down the leg side off Rabada and was caught behind and Labuschagne was lbw leaving for four. The Queenslander reviewed and was out on umpire’s call, before trudging off in what could be his last Test after 49 innings without a century.
Head then edged Rabada to gully while trying to drive outside off, before Inglis’s run-out headlined Australia’s horror show.
The result leaves Australia with losses in three of their past five Tests, with August’s shock defeat to Bangladesh in Darwin no longer a one-off.
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Australia’s last visit to Cape Town for a Test marked the side’s lowest day, with the ball-tampering scandal in 2018. Saturday was not quite as bleak, but their onfield effort was not much better.
A series loss for Australia looked near impossible when they had South Africa 110 for six on day three of a wet Gqeberha Test after winning the first in Durban. But the Proteas fought back, rolled through Australia and won comfortably after overcoming a 100-run first-innings deficit in Cape Town.
Beyond their bowling, Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder’s centuries on day four proved decisive, with Australia’s attack struggling to take wickets.
The Proteas take first spot off Australia in the ICC Test rankings, while also leapfrogging them into the top two in the race to next year’s World Test Championship final.
“We came here really confident and thought we were good enough to win, but we weren’t,” Cummins said.
