Sensational South Africa seal the series in Cape Town

Kagiso Rabada breathed fire in his opening spell, while Simon Harmer confounded the batters with his turn to guide South Africa to a famous win in Cape Town. With this, South Africa won the series 2-1.

This was a remarkable result as the Proteas had lost the opening Test by a hefty margin, before they fought back to win the series.

The result helped South Africa overtake Australia to become the No.1 ranked side in the ICC Men's Test Team Rankings, and also helped push Australia down from the No.1 spot in the No.2 spot in the ICC World Test Championship 2025/27 standings.

New Zealand now lead the WTC standings, with Australia at the second place.

The result was an amazing turnaround after South Africa had conceded a lead of over 100 runs. A sturdy stand between Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder helped South Africa set Australia a target of 288 at the end of fourth day's play.

The fifth day began in the perfect style with Rabada striking twice, getting Matt Renshaw and Marnus Labuschagne in his very first over.

Travis Head and Cameron Green tried to get Australia out of the pickle through some timely shots but Rabada was relentless and accounted for Head in the seventh over. Head was caught by Marco Jansen in the gully region and became Rabada's 350th Test scalp.

The South African pacer is just the fourth bowler from his country to pick 350 or more Test wickets and the second fastest to achieve this feat.

At 22/3, Australia were rattled but not out of the contest as the stars of their first innings total, Cameron Green and Josh Inglis were still at the crease. 

18 runs were added, before Inglis, who had earlier in the Test accounted for Rickelton via a brilliant run out, himself fell short off the crease off a Marques Ackerman throw.

Harmer took charge for the Proteas, even as an array of left-handers fell to his spin with Alex Carey scoring two runs, while Cooper Connolly and Mitchell Starc falling for ducks, the latter being dismissed off the final ball of the first session.

Australia stonewalled admirably in the second session, with Pat Cummins (11 from 90) and Cameron Green (27 from 110) staving off the Proteas charge. 

But Harmer got the better of both with some disciplined bowling, claiming his third Test five-for. He also picked the final wicket to hand the Proteas a brilliant 2-1 series win.

In each of the three Tests in the series, the eventual winner had struggled in the earlier stages of the Test before eventually successfully overcoming the hurdles to win the game.

So Australia were 124/6 in the Durban Test before eventually posting a match-winning first innings total of 390 that contributed to their 214-run win. 

Similarly, South Africa were 110/6 in the following Test in Gqeberha before posting 425/9 dec and winning the Test by an innings and 31 runs. 

In the Cape Town Test, South Africa collapsed from 203/1 in the first innings to 329 all out. They conceded a lead of 100 runs to Australia and looked in deep trouble at 131/4 in the third innings, before brilliant rearguard action saw them claim the win.

Australia Tour of South Africa Results:

First Test: Australia won by 214 runs

Second Test: South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs

Third Test: South Africa won by 176 runs