South Africa Beats Australia to Level Test Series 1-1

South Africa beat Australia by an innings and 31 runs at St George's Park in Gqeberha on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, levelling the three-match series at 1-1. Australia lost its final wicket in the last session, ending its second innings at 295, as South Africa sealed the result despite bad weather threatening to intervene. The final Test starts at Newlands in Cape Town on Tuesday.

How South Africa Turned the Match

Rain wiped out much of the first two days. South Africa resumed on the morning of the third day at 110-6, then rallied behind captain Temba Bavuma's career-best 179 and Marco Jansen's quick-fire 85. The hosts declared at 425-9 late on day three.

Australia's first innings ended at 99, and South Africa enforced the follow-on. Rain wiped out Thursday's morning session before the visitors resumed their second innings at 156-4. South Africa took the last six wickets to end the match.

Travis Head, unbeaten on 87 overnight, made 121 from 190 balls. He reached his 13th Test century off 151 balls, striking his 12th boundary on the way. It was his second Test hundred outside Australia. South Africa attacked for almost 90 minutes without success, until Wiaan Mulder bowled Head with a rising delivery that he chopped onto his stumps.

Steve Smith came in at No. 7, three places below his usual spot, after a neck problem in the first innings on Wednesday. He scored three before mis-hitting Kagiso Rabada. Matthew Breetzke juggled the ball at midwicket, then held on at his second attempt.

The Final Wickets

Scott Boland, serving as nightwatchman, made a Test-high 40 from 166 balls. He reached tea alongside Alex Carey, who finished 37 not out. Soon after the interval, Mulder bowled Boland through the gate. Australia captain Pat Cummins made four; Mulder clean bowled him in the next over.

Dark clouds gathered. Rabada returned and bowled Mitchell Starc for 11. Jansen finished the innings, having Josh Hazlewood caught in the slips off the first ball he faced. South Africa's pace bowlers claimed the final four wickets. Mulder finished with 3-64, and Rabada took 4-77 on his return from a lengthy injury layoff. Rabada and Jansen each claimed six wickets in the match.

South Africa also lost Anrich Nortje to a suspected groin injury in his fourth over. He didn't bowl again in Australia's second innings.

Captains Look to Cape Town

Bavuma earned player of the match. He said South Africa had stayed focused through the rain delays and tried to extend its innings “another hour, then another session,” keeping Australia's bowlers on their feet. “With the ball, we were as ruthless as we could be,” he said.

“Our team goes about playing good old test cricket, wear down the opposition and then take them down when the opportunity presents itself,” Bavuma said. The final six wickets, he added, had made South Africa work hard, but “there's a great feeling in the changing room right now.”

Bavuma said batting had proved tough, especially against the new ball, and keeping the series alive meant a lot to him. He praised Rabada for taking on pressure and Jansen for “coming out firing in both innings.” The team still had a job to do with one Test left, he said.

Cummins called Australia's showing “a long way from our best” and said it was “a reverse of last week.” He praised Boland and Head for their fight, but said Australia's first-innings 99 was “a fair way to come back from.” South Africa's victory followed its 214-run loss in Durban in the opening Test.