Josh Inglis made a hundred with a broken finger, and South Africa are four down and 40 ahead at Newlands
Australia lost two wickets for 10 runs after Inglis fell for 102 but still took a 100-run lead. Nathan Lyon then bowled Temba Bavuma just before stumps on day three of the series decider.
Oct 30, 2026
Josh Inglis reached his second Test hundred at Newlands on Thursday, and he did it with a broken finger. By stumps on day three, Australia had a first-innings lead of exactly 100 and South Africa were 140 for 4, ahead by only 40 with six wickets left in the series decider.
The last wicket of the day may turn out to be the big one. Nathan Lyon bowled Temba Bavuma five minutes before the close.
Inglis gets there, then Australia wobble
Inglis resumed on 85, with Alex Carey on 51 and Australia one run ahead at 330 for 4. He got to three figures off 132 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes, and was caught behind by Ryan Rickelton off Simon Harmer for 102.
That ended a fifth-wicket stand of 185, and the innings fell away quickly after it. Carey went to Harmer for 80, nine runs later, and Pat Cummins fell to Kagiso Rabada without scoring, so Australia went from 370 for 4 to 380 for 7.
Cooper Connolly’s 29 dragged them to 429 before Marco Jansen caught and bowled him. Harmer finished with 4 for 104 from 37 overs, and Jansen took 3 for 60. For South Africa, conceding a lead of 100 after being 158 without loss on the first day was a poor return.
Starc strikes early, Lyon late
Mitchell Starc, who took 6 for 72 in the first innings, had Aiden Markram caught by Travis Head for 1 in the third over. Josh Hazlewood removed David Bedingham with the score on 31.
Marques Ackerman, who made 95 in the first innings, counter-attacked for 62 off 80 balls before Starc got him too, caught by Cameron Green. That left Bavuma to grind. He made 35 off 115 balls and was bowled by Lyon trying to drive, the ball turning out of the rough to hit leg stump.
Matthew Breetzke, 19 not out, and Rickelton, on 8, will resume on day four. Starc has 2 for 29 so far, giving him eight wickets in the match.
What day four needs to look like
The series is level at 1-1. Australia won in Durban by 214 runs, and South Africa answered with an innings win in Gqeberha.
South Africa have Mulder, Jansen and Harmer still to come, and they probably need to bat most of Friday to set anything Australia cannot chase on the fifth day. Lyon bowling into the rough on a fourth-day pitch is the problem they have to solve first. Australia, without the injured Steve Smith, will fancy their chances of finishing it.