Harmer’s six for 16 seals South Africa win in Cape Town

Simon Harmer took a career-best six for 16 as South Africa bowled out Australia for 111 to win the third Test by 176 runs at Newlands on Saturday (October 31, 2026), clinching the three-match series 2-1.

The 37-year-old off-spinner finished the match with figures of 10 for 120, his first 10-wicket haul in Tests, with second-innings figures of 21.1-14-16-6. Kagiso Rabada claimed three for 39 and reached 350 Test wickets during the game. South Africa had earlier set Australia a target of 288.

Harmer’s six-wicket haul in the second innings was the standout bowling performance of the day and completed his best match return to date. His contributions followed a morning in which he and Rabada applied sustained pressure on the Australian batting line-up.

Rabada dismissed the in-form Matt Renshaw for a golden duck, caught behind down the leg-side, and ended the match with three wickets in the innings. The visiting side struggled against the two South African pacemen and spinner through the morning session.

Australia collapsed to 60 for seven at lunch while chasing 288, before Nathan Lyon (33 not out) and captain Pat Cummins (11) added some lower-order resistance. The pair’s efforts came too late to avert a comprehensive defeat.

Australia’s previous lowest fourth-innings total against South Africa was 107 — also at Cape Town — in 2018, when it lost by 322 runs. The final scoreline read: South Africa 329 & 387 bt Australia 429 & 111 in 57.1 overs (Harmer 6/16).

With the win, South Africa displaced Australia from the top of the ICC Test rankings.