Rabada, Harmer bowl South Africa to series win and No. 1 ranking

All three results were possible when the final day of the series began at Newlands. By Lunch, only one result was on the table. Kagiso Rabada struck twice in the first over and Simon Harmer spun a web with figures of 6 for 16 as Australia, chasing 288, were bowled out for 111 to give South Africa a 176-run win in the third Test. As a result, the hosts also took the series 2-1 and reclaimed the No. 1 Test ranking.

Australia must have begun the day believing they could chase this down. That belief, though, lasted three balls. Rabada, who was down with illness on the second and third days, had Matt Renshaw, the series' leading run-scorer, gloving a ball down the leg side to Ryan Rickelton. Three balls later in the same opening over, he trapped Marnus Labuschagne lbw.

Travis Head, Australia's best hope, hit three fours before Rabada had him caught at gully by Marco Jansen in the seventh over. It was Rabada's 350th Test wicket, and Australia were reeling at 22 for 3 at the time.

Harmer came on in the 12th over and found sharp turn out of the rough straight away. To make things worse, Josh Inglis was run out for four after a needless single to silly point. In the 18th over, Harmer had Alex Carey caught off a reverse sweep, with Marco Jansen diving forward at backward point. Two balls later, Cooper Connolly was caught behind. Mitchell Starc survived 24 balls before popping a catch to short leg off the last ball of the morning session and Australia went to Lunch at 60/7, having lost seven wickets in the morning.

Cameron Green and Pat Cummins then dug in, with 11 successive overs gone without a run. Green, on 27 off 110 balls, finally tried to break the shackles, dancing down to Harmer, and was bowled through the gate. Cummins batted 90 balls for 11 and added 45 for the ninth wicket with Nathan Lyon, who made an unbeaten 33, before Harmer trapped him lbw. Two overs later, Harmer bowled Josh Hazlewood with a ball that drifted in and turned away to hit the top of off, bowling Australia out for 111 in 57.1 overs and bringing up a famous series win for South Africa.

Harmer, who took 21.1 overs to claim his six wickets, 14 of them maidens, became the first South African spinner to take a Test ten-wicket haul at Cape Town. Rabada, who had set off this slide with the new ball, finished with 3 for 39.

The win was set up on the fourth day by Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder, whose centuries and 154-run sixth-wicket stand pulled South Africa out of trouble and gave them a total to defend.

It was Australia's first Test series defeat since March 2023, and only the fourth time they have lost a three-match series after winning the first Test. As a result of them going down, New Zealand claimed the first position on the World Test Championship table, pushing Australia out of the top two for the first time this cycle.

Brief scores: South Africa 329 (Marques Ackerman 95, Marco Jansen 52; Mitchell Starc 6-72) & 387 (Wiaan Mulder 115, Ryan Rickelton 101; Mitchell Starc 3-65) beat Australia 429 (Josh Inglis 102, Alex Carey 80; Simon Harmer 4-104, Marco Jansen 3-60) & 111 (Nathan Lyon 33*; Simon Harmer 6-16, Kagiso Rabada 3-39) by 176 runs.