{"id":939791,"date":"2026-10-24T23:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T23:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/939791\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T23:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T23:44:19","slug":"cricket-news-2026-south-africa-vs-australia-third-test-travis-head-kagiso-rabada-steve-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/939791\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026: South Africa vs Australia third Test; Travis Head, Kagiso Rabada, Steve Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Travis Head<\/a> has called for calm as a wounded Australia eyes a series win over South Africa with the third and final Test starting in Cape Town on Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n

The world\u2019s No.4 Test batsman did not attempt to sugar coat the innings and 31 run humbling in Gqeberha<\/a> but argued that some perspective was needed as fans and media clamour for selection change.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Travis Head walks back to the pavilion after his dismissal on day five.\u00a0AP Photo\/Themba Hadebe<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty clear what we got wrong. We had a pretty shithouse day. It is as simple as that. If we don\u2019t get bowled out for 99, more than likely the Test goes to a draw,\u201d Head told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty obvious what we did poorly. So I think there\u2019s disappointment in the room. We\u2019ll talk about it over the next few days (and we will) have a couple of training sessions. The guys will be switched on. The guys will be ready to go again, and we push on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kagiso Rabada returned after a long hamstring injury layoff to help South Africa win and set up a potential thriller at Newlands.<\/p>\n

Rabada\u2019s four second-innings wickets included that of the 37-year-old Steve Smith, who, with Australia in dire straits, attempted an out-of-character and ill-fated hook, and only managed to top-edge a catch to midwicket. <\/p>\n

It was an injudicious decision from the former captain, who passed the milestone of 11,000 Test runs at St George\u2019s Park but made only three runs in the second innings as he looked out of sorts with a neck complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t 100 per cent fit in the game, but we knew he had the ability to knuckle down and be the anchor for them. He\u2019s done it for so long for Australia,\u201d Rabada said in a TV interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a top-class player, and you can put a lot more pressure on a team when you get their best player out, so he\u2019ll always be a prized wicket playing against Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabada had also dismissed Smith at St George\u2019s Park in 2018, the first of 11 wickets he took in that Test, but he collided with the Australian while celebrating taking his wicket and was handed a two-match ban, later downgraded to a fine.<\/p>\n

The shoulder bump was among several incidents in an ill-spirited series that ended with the infamous \u2018Sandpapergate\u2019 ball-tampering scandal after which Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned for 12 months by Cricket Australia.<\/p>\n

Rabada, however, said there were no grudges and that it was part of intense competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an athlete you want to go out and express yourself. There\u2019s no hate off the field or anything like that. It\u2019s a bunch of top-performing athletes who\u2019ve got testosterone to burn. It\u2019s the heat of the moment,\u201d the paceman said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kagiso Rabada celebrates the wicket of Australia\u2019s Steven Smith.\u00a0AP Photo\/Themba Hadebe<\/p>\n

Smith has been back to Newlands since the scandal, playing in a T20 international two years after the incident, but this will be his first Test at the venue since 2018.<\/p>\n

Last month he said he had learned from the experience after being sent home in disgrace.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rabada\u2019s fast bowling teammate Anrich Nortje is out of the Test after a groin injury suffered early in Gqeberha.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old Nortje pulled up in his fourth over and played no further part in the Test, which South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs on Thursday<\/p>\n

His withdrawal is the only change to the home squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Travis Head has called for calm as a wounded Australia eyes a series win over South Africa with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":939792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-939791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}