South Africa hold on for SCG draw, Australia take series 2-0

Bucketloads of Sydney rain has prevented a result in the final Test between Australia and South Africa over the weekend with the Proteas batters gutsing out a draw on a deteriorating SCG pitch.

Usman Khawaja was named Player of the Match for his career-best 195* whilst David Warner claimed Player of the Series honours for his heroic double-ton in Melbourne.

With Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green both unavailable through injury, the Australian XI underwent somewhat of an unfamiliar facelift for the third and final Test.

Ashton Agar and Matt Renshaw were brought in from the Test wilderness whilst Scott Boland was also replaced by Josh Hazlewood who had recovered from a side strain.

Renshaw’s return to the Test side was made all the more difficult after the 26-year-old returned a positive Covid test prior to the start of play.

As for the South Africans, Theunis de Bruyn was replaced by Heinrich Klaasen.

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Australia’s first (and only) innings was buoyed by centuries to Khawaja (195*) and Steve Smith (104) with Marnus Labuschagne (79) and Travis Head (70) also threatening to go big before uncharacteristic lapses.

Warner (10) was the only member of Australia’s top five not to cash in on runs after Proteas quick Anrich Nortje found his edge.

They were only afforded 47 overs on Day 1 before ending Day 2 at 4-for-475 with Khawaja (195*) and Renshaw (5*) at the crease.

Day 3 was a complete washout due to rain with the players not returning to the field until the afternoon of Day 4.

With four sessions rained out and all eyes on a victory that would secure Australia’s place in the World Test Championship Final, skipper Pat Cummins made the difficult decision to declare with teammate Khawaja stranded five runs short of his maiden Test double-hundred.

Khawaja’s professionalism was on full-display with the veteran opener making an effort to put his skipper’s mind at ease.

“It was alright. I actually made the effort; I went up to him and said, ‘mate, do whatever you need to, don’t worry about me, you’ve got to try and win a Test match, we’ve all got to try and win a Test match’”, Khawaja told Fox Sports.

“What kind of teammate would I be if we weren’t trying to do that? I was putting myself in front of him and said, ‘just take the emotion out of it’, he was like, ‘I appreciate that’, so it was fine.”

Faced with the prospect of needing to take 20 wickets in five sessions against a faltering South African batting lineup to earn a win, the Australians had to get moving quickly.

Proteas captain Dean Elgar was again caught down leg side before opening partner Sarel Erwee opted to leave a Nathan Lyon delivery which knocked him over.

Heinrich Klaasen fell cheaply to Cummins to have South Africa at 3-for-37 – an all-too-familiar scenario this series for the visitors.

Temba Bavuma (35), Khaya Zondo (39), and Kyle Verreynne (19) did what they could to steady the innings, however, the Hazlewood-Cummins duo ended up claiming all three wickets.

From then on, the South African tail leant on a resolve that their top- and middle-order batters had struggled to summon for much of the series.

Marco Jansen lasted 78 balls before part-timer Travis Head claimed him before Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj put on an 80-run stand for the eighth wicket.

Maharaj reached 50 whilst Harmer looked stout alongside him.

Hazlewood eventually dismissed Maharaj leg-before for 53 before knocking over Harmer for 47.

The South Africans were bowled out for 255 – 21 runs short of the avoiding the follow-on.

The work of Jansen, Harmer, and Maharaj meant that Australia were afforded just 47 overs to find 10 wickets.

Cummins claimed Elgar down the leg-side again early to end what had been a horror series for the Proteas helmsman.

Erwee and Klaasen crafted a 48-run stand before Hazlewood knocked over Klaasen with a beautiful inswinger.

Erwee (42*) and Bavuma (17*) saw out the innings and match as South Africa finished 2-for-106.

The Proteas now look forward to a two-Test series against the West Indies on home soil in late-February.

Australia, meanwhile, will shift their focus to their highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar series in India in a month’s time before The Ashes kicks off in England in June.