Harmer’s Ten Seals South Africa’s 2-1 Test Win Over Australia

South Africa won by 176 runs against Australia in the third Test, with Simon Harmer taking ten wickets to secure the Player of the Match award and a 2-1 series triumph. After conceding a 100-run first-innings lead, the hosts turned the decider through centuries from Wiaan Mulder and Ryan Rickelton before dismissing Australia for 111 in pursuit of 288.

Australia take the early advantage

South Africa’s first innings produced 329 in 82.3 overs, built around Marques Ackerman’s 95, Aiden Markram’s 78 and Marco Jansen’s 52. Ackerman fell five runs short of a century, while Mitchell Starc supplied Australia’s cutting edge with six wickets. Nathan Lyon took two and Cooper Connolly one.

Australia answered with 429 in 125.1 overs. Josh Inglis led the response with 102, supported by Alex Carey’s 80 and Matt Renshaw’s 74, giving the visitors a substantial 100-run advantage.

Harmer kept South Africa in contention with four wickets, while Jansen added three and Mulder one. Even so, the hosts needed a significant second-innings recovery to wrest control of the deciding Test.

Mulder and Rickelton reshape the decider

Mulder’s 115 and Rickelton’s 101 provided exactly that response. Their centuries, backed by another important contribution of 62 from Ackerman, carried South Africa to 387 in 134.4 overs and transformed a first-innings deficit into a target of 288.

Australia continued to find wickets through Starc, who added three to finish with nine for the match. Pat Cummins and Lyon took two apiece in South Africa’s second innings, but the hosts had done enough to leave a demanding final-innings chase.

The decisive shift was South Africa’s ability to bat beyond the deficit rather than merely erase it. Mulder and Rickelton’s hundreds gave Harmer and the pace attack the opportunity to bowl for a series victory on the final day.

Harmer finishes the job

Kagiso Rabada helped put Australia under immediate pressure: after 13 overs, the visitors had lost three wickets, all to Rabada, whose figures at that stage were 3/14 from five overs.

Harmer then delivered the defining spell of the chase, taking six wickets to complete a ten-wicket match haul. Rabada finished with three wickets, while Gerald Coetzee went wicketless in the innings.

Australia were dismissed for 111 in 57.1 overs. Lyon’s 33 was their highest score, followed by Cameron Green’s 27 and Travis Head’s 14. With none of those contributions developing into a substantial innings, the chase ended 176 runs short.

Key performers

• Simon Harmer: Four wickets in Australia’s first innings and six in the second; ten for the match and Player of the Match.
• Wiaan Mulder: The match’s highest individual score, 115, in South Africa’s second innings, plus one first-innings wicket.
• Ryan Rickelton: A crucial second-innings 101 as South Africa established a winning target.
• Marques Ackerman: Scores of 95 and 62, contributing 157 runs across South Africa’s two innings.
• Mitchell Starc: Six wickets followed by three, keeping Australia competitive with nine wickets for the match.
• Josh Inglis: Australia’s only centurion, making 102 in their first-innings 429.
• Kagiso Rabada: Three second-innings wickets, including an early spell of 3/14 from five overs.

NerdSports Stat: Mulder and Rickelton’s second-innings centuries totalled 216 runs—105 more than Australia’s entire fourth-innings total of 111.

South Africa complete the series comeback

This result decided the Test series 2-1 in South Africa’s favour. Australia had won the opening Test by 214 runs, but South Africa levelled with an innings-and-31-run victory in the second before completing the turnaround in the decider.

The hosts also won the ODI series 2-1, taking the first two matches by 67 and 32 runs before Australia claimed the third by 45 runs under DLS. With the third Test completing the six-match international programme, no further matches remain on the tour.

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