CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa are back on top of Test cricket. Off-spinner Simon Harmer produced a career-defining spell of 6 for 16 on the final day at Newlands on Saturday, 31 October 2026, as Australia, chasing 288 to win the series decider, collapsed to 111 all out and lost the third Test by 176 runs. The victory sealed a 2-1 series win for the Proteas and returned them to No. 1 in the ICC men's Test team rankings, completing a comeback that began with a heavy defeat in Durban.
The final day had started with all three results still possible. By lunch, only one was on the table. Kagiso Rabada struck with the new ball, Harmer spun a web through the middle and lower order, and Australia lost their last wickets before tea, bowled out in 57.1 overs. It was, by several measures, a historic afternoon for South Africa: Harmer's match figures of 10 for 120 were his first ten-wicket haul in Tests, and Rabada passed 350 Test wickets during the match.
Illustration: South Africa's players celebrating a Test series victory at a packed stadium in Cape Town.
What Happened
Australia began the fifth day needing 288 runs with a full day's play available, a target described in match reporting as challenging but not unmanageable. Instead, the chase unravelled almost immediately. Rabada struck twice in the first over, according to Cricbuzz's match report, removing Matt Renshaw for a duck and trapping Marnus Labuschagne leg before wicket, and Travis Head soon followed for 14. By midday, Australia had slumped to 6 for 42, and there was no way back.
Harmer then took centre stage. Bowling 21.1 overs, 14 of them maidens, the 37-year-old off-spinner finished with 6 for 16, the best innings figures of his Test career. He dismissed captain Pat Cummins for 11 off 90 balls, bowled Josh Hazlewood with a ball that drifted in and turned away to hit the top of off stump, and claimed the last six wickets of the innings. Nathan Lyon, unbeaten on 33 off 57 balls, was Australia's top scorer in the second innings — a statistic that told its own story about the collapse.
The brief scores underline how completely the final day swung. South Africa made 329 in their first innings, with Marques Ackerman scoring 95 and Marco Jansen 52, while Mitchell Starc took 6 for 72. Australia replied with 429, built on Josh Inglis's 102 and Alex Carey's 80, with Harmer taking 4 for 104 and Jansen 3 for 60. South Africa's second innings of 387 — Wiaan Mulder 115, Ryan Rickelton 101, and Lhuan-dre Ackerman 62 — set the target of 288. Australia's second innings lasted only 111 runs: Harmer 6 for 16, Rabada 3 for 39.
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma described the 2-1 series victory as the best series experience of his career, according to reporting of his post-match comments, as the Proteas reclaimed the No. 1 ranking they had surrendered to Australia. For Australia, the defeat was their first Test series loss since March 2023, and, according to Cricbuzz, only the fourth time they have lost a three-match series after winning the first Test.
Illustration: An off-spin bowler delivering the ball on a turning pitch, with the batsman and wicketkeeper in view.
Background
This series had already produced two sharply contrasting Tests before the Newlands decider, which is why the result carried so much weight. Australia won the opening Test in Durban by 214 runs and looked in control of the series. South Africa responded in Gqeberha with an innings-and-31-run victory, a match in which Australia were bowled out for 99 in conditions where a draw had seemed within reach. That set up a winner-takes-all decider in Cape Town, with the No. 1 ranking also on the line — a preview of that decider was covered earlier on this blog, but this article reports the result itself.
Harmer's role in the turnaround is a story in itself. He had not been South Africa's first-choice spinner at the start of the series, according to Cricket Australia's match report, yet he finished it as its defining bowler, out-bowling even Nathan Lyon, one of the great off-spinners of the modern game, on a deteriorating Newlands surface. His 10 for 120 made him, according to Cricbuzz, the first South African spinner to take a Test ten-wicket haul at Cape Town.
Rabada's contribution was equally significant, and it came with a personal milestone. The fast bowler finished the second innings with 3 for 39, and in the process reached 350 Test wickets. Reporting of the milestone puts his tally at 13,808 deliveries, making him the fastest bowler to 350 wickets by balls bowled, ahead of the previous benchmarks set by South African great Dale Steyn and Pakistan's Waqar Younis. Rabada had also been ill on the second and third days of the match, according to Cricbuzz, which made his final-day burst all the more striking.
The Newlands pitch itself became a talking point. Cricket Australia's report noted that South Africa taunted, goaded and ultimately dominated Australia on a final-day surface that Australia had chosen to bat last on, and that Harmer exploited rough patches and sharp turn to trouble Australia's right-handed batters repeatedly. Australia's second batting collapse in as many Tests — 99 in Gqeberha, 111 in Cape Town — suggested a problem that went beyond one pitch.
Why It Matters
First, the rankings. Test cricket's No. 1 position changes hands rarely enough that reclaiming it is a statement, not a footnote. South Africa lost the opening Test heavily, then won the next two by an innings and by 176 runs. That is not a series won on a single good day; it is a series turned around and then closed out, against the team that had held the top ranking.
Second, the manner of the win matters for how both teams are judged. Australia's batting, not their bowling, decided this series. Starc took wickets in both innings at Newlands, and Australia held a 100-run first-innings lead in the decider after scoring 429. Yet they were bowled out for 111 chasing 288, after being bowled out for 99 in the previous Test. When a top order repeatedly collapses against spin on wearing pitches, opponents will plan for it, and selection questions follow.
Third, Harmer's performance reframes late-career value in Test cricket. At 37, as a spinner who was not first choice at the series' start, he delivered 10 wickets in a decider, bowled 14 maidens in a single innings, and took the last six wickets of the match. It is the kind of performance that changes how a player is remembered — and how teams think about experience in a deciding Test.
Finally, Rabada's 350-wicket milestone places him in genuinely elite company. Reaching the mark faster, by balls bowled, than Steyn or Waqar Younis is a measure of sustained strike power across a long career, not just longevity. That he did it while leading the attack that sealed a series win and the No. 1 ranking only adds to its weight.
Illustration: A Test cricket trophy on display beside a rankings board showing the No. 1 position.
What Happens Next
South Africa will now defend the No. 1 ranking they have just reclaimed, and the manner of this win gives them a template: a pace attack led by Rabada, a spinner in Harmer who can control a final day, and a middle order — Mulder, Rickelton and Ackerman at Newlands — capable of building a match-winning second-innings total from a first-innings deficit. The challenge will be repeating that away from home, where pitches and conditions will not always offer a spinner so much help.
Australia, meanwhile, face a period of reflection. Their first series defeat in more than three years, and their first time losing consecutive Tests in three and a half years, according to match reporting, will prompt questions about batting against spin, about selection for turning pitches, and about how a team that led the decider by 100 runs after the first innings lost it by 176. The answers will shape their next series far more than any single post-match comment.
For Harmer and Rabada, the immediate future is simpler: a series trophy, a No. 1 ranking, and two milestones — a first ten-wicket haul and a 350th wicket — achieved on the same Cape Town afternoon. Cricket rarely scripts its endings so neatly, and that is part of why this one will be remembered.
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FAQ
What was the result of the Cape Town Test?
South Africa beat Australia by 176 runs in the third Test at Newlands, Cape Town, on Saturday, 31 October 2026, bowling Australia out for 111 in their second innings while chasing 288.
Who won the Test series?
South Africa won the three-match series 2-1. Australia won the first Test in Durban by 214 runs, South Africa won the second in Gqeberha by an innings and 31 runs, and South Africa won the decider in Cape Town by 176 runs.
What were Simon Harmer's figures?
Harmer took 6 for 16 in 21.1 overs in Australia's second innings, with 14 maidens, and finished with match figures of 10 for 120 — his first ten-wicket haul in Tests.
What milestone did Kagiso Rabada reach?
Rabada took 3 for 39 in the second innings and reached 350 Test wickets, reported as the fastest to the milestone by balls bowled, in 13,808 deliveries.
What does the result mean for the ICC Test rankings?
South Africa reclaimed the No. 1 position in the ICC men's Test team rankings from Australia as a result of the 2-1 series victory.
Sources
Cricbuzz, "Rabada, Harmer bowl South Africa to series win and No. 1 ranking," 31 October 2026; Cricket Australia, "Aussies fold on final day as Proteas take series, No. 1 ranking," 1 November 2026; Cricket Times, "Simon Harmer spins web around Australia, power South Africa to emphatic win in Cape Town Test," 31 October 2026; The Sporting Base / AP, "Australia Crash to 111 as South Africa Win Cape Town Test," 1 November 2026.
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