Facts confirmed across prior research and Sky Sports. Here’s the article:
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South Africa’s last four second-innings wickets fell for five runs. Josh Hazlewood finished with 6-49, the best figures of his Test career, and Australia completed a 214-run victory at Kingsmead on the fifth day — the reigning World Test champions beaten emphatically in their first home Test since they lifted the mace at Lord’s.
Australia made 390 and 314-6 declared; South Africa replied with 284 and 206. Matt Renshaw, dropped and recalled more often than any batter of his generation, scored 190 from 397 balls, added 82 from 99 in the second innings, took his maiden Test wicket and walked off with the player-of-the-match award. Temba Bavuma, 1-0 down in a three-Test series, was left explaining a defeat that was his first in 13 matches as captain.
Renshaw’s 190, and the collapse that followed
The match turned on day one, when Australia were 124-6. Wiaan Mulder (4-68) and Marco Jansen (3-68) had ripped through the top order on a pitch offering seam movement, and South Africa were an hour from bowling the tourists out for under 200. Renshaw refused to let it happen. He batted through the afternoon and into the second day for the highest score by an Australian in Durban and the best by a number five of any nation at Kingsmead.
South Africa’s 284 in reply was built on nobody — David Bedingham’s 49 was the top score. Australia then declared 420 ahead before tea on day four, setting 421, a target no side in Test history has chased. The realistic ambition was a draw, and for a time South Africa pursued it properly: Aiden Markram made 75 from 237 balls and Mulder 29 from 110 in a 69-run partnership of genuine discipline. Then Hazlewood found his length, the tail disintegrated, and 201-6 became 206 all out.
Pat Cummins was unambiguous about the two performances that won it. “It was a great win. A lot of it was built on what Matt Renshaw did on day one,” the Australia captain said. “Hazlewood is just a captain’s dream.”
Eleven months off — and the limits of the rust excuse
This was South Africa’s first Test since June 2025, an 11-month gap created by a schedule that gives them barely any red-ball cricket. The defeat ended a 12-match unbeaten run and came against the team they beat in the World Test Championship final — and whom they had just beaten 2-1 in the ODI series that preceded this tour.
Rust is the obvious explanation. It is also an incomplete one, because Australia arrived in Durban off an eight-month break of their own and still batted 137.2 overs in the first innings. What South Africa lack is not match sharpness so much as settled answers in the middle order:
- Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs both fell to loose strokes in conditions that punished them
- Kyle Verreynne averages 15 against England and India — the two attacks of comparable quality
- Mulder’s defensive application is proven; his output against top-eight opposition is not
Bavuma was willing to say the harder part out loud. He admitted the decision to pick two spinners was wrong — “looking at the way the wicket played out over the five days, [it] was definitely not conducive” — and placed himself among those who gave their wickets away, having been dismissed by off-spin in both innings. He fell to Renshaw’s part-time off-breaks for 1 on the fourth evening, caught off bat and pad at short leg.
Gqeberha, Rabada and the ground that still matters
South Africa go to St George’s Park on Sunday needing a result to keep the series and their WTC cycle alive. Australia began the series top of the standings on 80% of points available, South Africa second on 75%; another defeat would open a gap that three Tests cannot easily close.
Two things are in their favour. Kagiso Rabada, absent in Durban with a hamstring injury, is expected to return — a bowler capable of taking the five-for nobody managed at Kingsmead. And Anrich Nortje, back after 18 months out, took four wickets across the match, bowling with pace that justified his selection even in defeat.
There is a further layer to the finish of this tour. Australia are playing Tests in South Africa for the first time since the 2017-18 trip, and the series ends at Newlands from 27 October — the ground where the ball-tampering scandal broke, and where Steve Smith will play for the first time since. Bavuma’s side have two Tests to make sure that week is about cricket rather than history.
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**Sources:** [Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/13598797/south-africa-vs-australia-josh-hazlewood-claims-career-best-test-figures-of-6-49-as-australia-take-1-0-series-lead) · [ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-13/south-africa-australia-first-test-durban-day-five-live-blog/107260972) · [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/13/australia-bowl-out-south-africa-to-win-first-test-in-durban) · plus Cricinfo/Times Live/Yahoo Sport detail retrieved in prior sessions (Bavuma quotes, 12-match unbeaten run, Nortje return).
Two notes on the data: the Markram–Mulder stand is logged as 69 runs in match reports, and South Africa’s first-innings overs vary by source (74 vs 78), so I left that figure out rather than pick one. Word count is 742.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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