The third Test between South Africa and Australia will be played in Cape Town from October 27.
Australian captain Pat Cummins conceded that the visitors were nowhere near their best after a humiliating innings defeat at the hands of South Africa in the recently concluded second Test in Gqeberha.
South Africa had done well to recover from 110/6 to post 425/9 in their first innings, thanks to a resolute 179 by captain Temba Bavuma. He got brilliant support from Marco Jansen (85) and Simon Harmer (82) in the lower order.
Jansen then starred with a five-wicket haul, as Australia were bundled out for 99 runs in their first innings and were then asked to follow on. Despite a valiant 121 by Travis Head, Australia was bowled out for 295 runs, as Kagiso Rabada picked four wickets and lost the game by an innings and 31 runs. South Africa leveled the three-Test series 1-1 after losing the first match in Durban by 214 runs.
Captain Pat Cummins said the autopsy would not start right away so that the emotions of the defeat could settle, but Australia will have to face some uncomfortable home truths about their batting after losing 19 wickets in two days as they get ready for a winner-takes-all match at Newlands.
"We were nowhere near our best across the board, really. Clearly we need to be a lot better than that if we want to compete. I think a loss can sometimes kick yourself into gear. You can maybe paper over the cracks sometimes in a win. Whereas I think in a loss, it makes you ask questions as a player of yourself,” Cummins said during the post-match press conference as quoted by Cricinfo.
When questioned about Vernon Philander calling their first-innings display, in which they collapsed to 99, "gutless" on SEN radio, and whether that was a fair comment, Cummins said the team had to be ready to make tough runs.
"Depends on what that means, really. I think you've got to find a way in Test cricket. It's not always going to be easy. You saw today with Trav and Scotty; sometimes it's going to be about getting through the tough spells and sticking to your method, and I think we went away from that on day four. You know, a couple of loose shots, [we] could have hung around and kind of waited for the game to come to us a little bit more,” Cummins replied when asked about Philander’s remark.
Three Australian players severely underperformed in the match. Nic Maddinson, who was recalled to the Australian Test side and played as an opener, managed 0, 48, 0 and 8 in two Tests.
"I think the hardest thing about opening or batting three is actually getting yourself in. [The] balls are normally doing a fair bit [and] you've got fresh bowlers. He's actually doing the hard bit; he's getting to 30. I think he's got to find a way to turn those into bigger scores; 30s aren't going to win you many matches.
But it's certainly not a technique error. It's maybe a couple of decisions [when] the game demanded something a little bit different. So, again, we'll work on that in the next couple of days. It's one test match left in the series; we've got to win this, and then there's a bit of a break before the summer,” Cummins said about Labuschagne.
Cummins further acknowledged that Australian batting has not been up to the mark and stated that they have relied heavily on Matt Renshaw.
“Even last week, obviously Renshaw had an amazing game, but I still think we weren't at our best, particularly in the batting. Looking around the changing room at how good our batters are and the standards they all hold themselves to, I think we're probably a little bit shorter than where we'd like to [be]. It's about what we look like at our best. We're still finding ways to win, [but] I think we make it hard for ourselves sometimes. We've got three or four days to get it right for Cape Town. There'll be lots of conversations,” Cummins added.
Cameron Green is expected to be available for the final test, although he won't be able to bowl, while Josh Inglis is also fit again. Cooper Connolly is the other spare batter, while Sam Harper currently remains with the squad.
(Cricinfo inputs)