Bavuma and Miller centuries seal series for South Africa with 32-run win over Australia in Johannesburg

South Africa beat Australia by 32 runs in the second one-day international in Johannesburg on 27 September 2026 to clinch the three-match series with a game to spare. Temba Bavuma and David Miller each scored centuries as the Proteas posted 365 for nine before bowling Australia out for 333 in 49.5 overs.

Australia sent their hosts in to bat and South Africa accumulated 365 for nine in their 50 overs, with the visitors then dismissed for 333 in 49.5 overs. The Proteas continued their recent dominance over their rivals with a 19th ODI win in their last 25 meetings. Australia’s reply was again blunted in the middle by spin, and the tourists were further hampered by the ongoing absence of seamer Pat Cummins plus a side strain to Nathan Ellis that restricted him to four overs.

Temba Bavuma made 103 from 116 balls for his sixth ODI century while David Miller made 142 from 93 balls, striking nine sixes as he recorded a career-best score and his eighth ODI hundred. Matthew Breetzke contributed 34 off 28 and Duan Jansen finished 27 not out as South Africa built a match-winning total. Jack Edwards returned the best figures for Australia with five for 67 in 10 overs, his victims including Bavuma and Miller, and Josh Hazlewood had earlier dismissed openers Aiden Markram (for a duck) and Quinton de Kock (15).

Australia began their chase with a rapid opening stand as Mitch Marsh (84 from 53 balls) and Travis Head (84 from 76 balls) added 130 in 17 overs for the first wicket. The middle order struggled thereafter and South Africa’s three spinners tightened the contest; Keshav Maharaj took 2-54, Bjorn Fortuin 2-70 and Aiden Markram 1-55, each completing their allotted 10 overs. Markram trapped Head lbw before Maharaj removed Alex Carey (17) and Matt Renshaw (32), both lbw.

Xavier Bartlett provided resistance with 50 from 28 deliveries but lacked sustained support from the lower order. From the 30th over to the 40th Australia managed 37 runs in Durban and just 35 on an excellent batting wicket in Johannesburg. “It’s certainly an area where we need to improve and we’re well aware of that,” Marsh said. “I thought we set up our innings really well in both games but we haven’t been able to execute during those middle phases. It’s a ‌great learning curve, especially for some of our younger players. But you also have to give South Africa full credit ​for the way they’ve bowled during those periods.”

“It’s really disappointing,” the Australia captain Mitch Marsh said. “We came here determined to level the series at 1-1 and take it ‌into the final game, but fair play to South Africa. I thought they played really well and outplayed us again. “We just want to keep improving,” Marsh added. “We certainly don’t want to be whitewashed, so we’ll go to Potchefstroom determined to win that final game and play some good cricket.”

“It was ‌another really good ​all-round team performance,” the Proteas captain Bavuma ​said. “It started with the bat. Conditions were a little tricky up front but we managed to get through that period and build towards a good total. David [Miller] played an unbelievable innings and then the bowlers did their job as well.”

The final match of the white-ball series is in Potchefstroom on Wednesday, before a three-Test series begins in Durban on 9 October.