Rain on the first two days. Rain again on the last morning. For a long while it felt as if the weather would rescue Australia where their batting could not. It did not. Gqeberha got its afternoon, and the Proteas needed every minute of it.
The Proteas Australia second Test result is an innings-and-31-run win for South Africa at Dafabet St George’s Park on Thursday. Following on, Australia were bowled out for 295 in the final session. The three-match series is level at 1-1, with the decider at Newlands from Tuesday 27 October.
How the Proteas Australia second Test result was won
Overnight rain and a wet outfield wiped out the whole morning, so play began only in the afternoon session. Australia resumed on 156 for 4, still 170 behind, and Travis Head was the problem South Africa had slept on.
He added 34 to his overnight score and brought up his 13th Test hundred. Then Wiaan Mulder cramped him with a short ball and Head dragged it onto his own stumps, gone for 121 from 190 balls. Australia were 209 for 5.
Steve Smith, who had needed treatment during his first-innings stay, did not last. He went after a short, wide ball from Kagiso Rabada and skied it to midwicket, where Matthew Breetzke juggled and then held it. Smith made 3 and it was 225 for 6.
Then came the part that tested the nerves. Scott Boland, sent in as nightwatchman on Wednesday evening, simply would not leave. He and Alex Carey took Australia to tea without further loss, and the draw started to feel possible.
Mulder broke it soon after the interval. One came back sharply between bat and pad, and Boland was bowled for 40 from 166 balls, the highest Test score of his career. Pat Cummins followed for 4, bowled by Mulder. Rabada bowled Mitchell Starc for 11 to end a ninth-wicket stand of 28 with Carey, and Marco Jansen finished it when Josh Hazlewood edged to Aiden Markram at slip for a duck. Carey was left on 37 not out.
| Day five at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Result | South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs |
| Australia, second innings | 295 all out (resumed on 156/4) |
| Top scorer | Travis Head 121 (190 balls), bowled by Mulder |
| The long stay | Scott Boland 40 (166 balls), his Test best |
| Not out | Alex Carey 37 |
| Second-innings bowling | Kagiso Rabada 4/77, Wiaan Mulder 3/64, Simon Harmer 2/93 |
| Series | 1-1, third Test at Newlands from 27 October |
Mulder and Rabada close the door
Kagiso Rabada took the big wicket of Smith and finished with 4 for 77. Mulder, with 3 for 64, was the bowler who changed the match twice: once to remove Head, once to end Boland’s vigil. Jansen, the hero of Wednesday’s 99 all out, ended with six wickets in the match. Our day four report has how that first-innings collapse unfolded.
They did it without Anrich Nortje, who did not bowl again in the second innings after leaving the field on day four, AP reported.
Temba Bavuma, whose 179 rescued South Africa from 110 for 6 (told in the day three report), admitted the morning had been anxious. “The weather wanted to play a part today and we were scrambling a little bit in the changeroom,” the captain said after the game, as reported by SuperSport. “They made us work hard for those six wickets, and obviously everyone is happy.”
Our view: enforcing the follow-on with this much weather about was a bold call, and our follow-on explainer sets out why captains sometimes hesitate. Bavuma backed his bowlers, Boland nearly made him pay, and Mulder made sure he did not.
What comes next
After losing in Durban by 214 runs, South Africa have hauled the series back to 1-1. It all comes down to Newlands, starting on Tuesday 27 October. “But we still have a job at hand with another match still to go, and we are now focused on that,” Bavuma said. One Test, one series, and Cape Town gets to decide it.