Here are the quick hits from day five of the third Test between Australia and South Africa.<\/p>\n
1. Marnus on the brink after horror start for Aussies<\/p>\n
It was the first over from hell for the Aussies, and one in which Marnus Labuschagne must have surely seen his Test career flash before his eyes.<\/p>\n
All it took was three balls, and the tourists, chasing 288 at the beginning of day five, were one down.<\/p>\n
Matt Renshaw, the hero from Durban, was out for a golden duck after a leg-side strangulation, with Proteas spearhead Kagiso Rabada only just beginning to find his groove.<\/p>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/0b4ab557a29bf3cf0519eeefef418fc2.jpeg\")
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Kagiso Rabada had the Aussies shell-shocked in the game’s very first over. (Getty Images: Ashley Vlotman\/Gallo Images)<\/p>\n
Walking to the middle with his place in the team long under the microscope, the stage was set for Labuschagne’s long-awaited innings of redemption.<\/p>\n
He found his way off a pair courtesy of a streaky boundary through gully, but a massive lapse in judgement spelled disaster for the Queenslander.<\/p>\n
Labuschagne was given out LBW after shouldering arms to a ball that nipped back and thudded into pad, with his review futile in providing life support to a Test career so desperately struggling for air.<\/p>\n
It has now been 49 innings and well over three years since his last Test ton.<\/p>\n
Australia, remarkably, was 2-5 after six balls.<\/p>\n
2. Green barbecues Inglis![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/d99556d96453c33c4b7b7af063796c1a.jpeg\")
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Josh Inglis was well short of his ground. (Getty Images: Ashley Vlotman\/Gallo Images)<\/p>\n
Just when it felt like it could not get any worse for Australia, it did.<\/p>\n
Having joined Cam Green in the middle after Travis Head had become Rabada’s third victim, Josh Inglis, fresh from his century on day three, was 4 from 17 deliveries when Green called him through for a single that was never there.<\/p>\n
The towering all-rounder had set off after doing little more than pat the ball into the off-side, meaning Marques Ackerman could race around from silly point, collect the ball, and fire it into Ryan Rickelton behind the stumps.<\/p>\n
The bails were dislodged with Inglis helplessly short of his ground, the horror mix-up only appropriate after the first hour that was.<\/p>\n
3. Reverse does for Carey in Harmer double strike<\/p>\n
Alex Carey has a complicated relationship with the reverse sweep. He clearly likes playing it, but it has often been his downfall.<\/p>\n
So, with his side 4-42 on the deciding day of the series, and with the Newlands pitch turning sideways, it perhaps wasn’t the time to bring out the cross-bat special.<\/p>\n
But facing finger spinner Simon Harmer, Carey just couldn’t help himself.<\/p>\n
Down on his haunches, his top edge was gobbled up by a diving Marco Jansen, and the wicketkeeper-batter was out for 2.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2552138a01203dac2b3ff93afb5a1093.jpeg\")
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Alex Carey was out playing a reverse sweep. (Getty Images: Ashley Vlotman\/Gallo Images)<\/p>\n
In at No.7 and playing his second Test, Cooper Connolly never stood a chance.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old was dismissed just two balls later, done by flight and spin, edging behind to Rickelton while attempting a booming drive, leaving the Aussies deep in the mire.<\/p>\n
4. Ex-players fume at day five disaster<\/p>\n
As Australia went to lunch at 6-70, the recriminations were already in full swing.<\/p>\n
On commentary for ABC Sport, former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie was close to speechless.<\/p>\n
In the Fox Cricket Studio, former Australia opener David Warner wasn’t.<\/p>\n
“It’s un-Australian. There is no fight whatsoever, it’s disgraceful,” said a fuming Warner.<\/p>\n
“The batters have let the bowlers down all series.<\/p>\n
“Yes, Matt Renshaw showed fight in that first Test, but I think the batters have been disgraceful, utterly disgraceful.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/dcc22377703d89e4d357b6fab8cb1f21.jpeg\")
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David Warner was livid with his former teammates. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)<\/p>\n
As we returned for the second session, ex-Australia batter Phil Jaques was still attempting to come to terms with what he had witnessed.<\/p>\n
“Words can’t describe how disappointing it is for Test cricket today,” Jaques said on commentary for ABC Sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I bounced out of bed this morning hoping for a really good day of cricket \u2026 and then Australia today just didn’t show up.<\/p>\n
“They’ve been found wanting on numerous occasions \u2026 it’s just been pretty poor from Australia, to be honest, and really deflating as a cricket fan.”<\/p>\n
5. Aussies go 78 deliveries without scoring<\/p>\n
With the result no longer in doubt heading into the second session, Australia changed tact.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pat Cummins came out alongside Green following the lunch break and was determined to bat time, rather than score runs.<\/p>\n
After Green had farmed the strike earlier in the day with Mitchell Starc, protecting him from the pace of Gerald Coetzee, he did the same with Cummins.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/330fd069192f2845676587f892c05c69.jpeg\")
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Simon Harmer claimed six wickets as the Aussies fell to a disastrous defeat on day five.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 (Getty Images: Ashley Vlotman\/Gallo Images)<\/p>\n
They turned the Test into a waiting game and had some success until Harmer, in the middle of a miserly spell, switched ends and threw a spanner in the works by ripping an off break through Green’s defences and into his off stump.<\/p>\n
Cummins was then joined by Nathan Lyon and finally scored his first run, ending a streak of 78 dot balls and receiving Bronx cheers from those in the stands at Newlands.<\/p>\n
It was an embarrassing final nail in the Australian coffin near the end of an embarrassing day for a proud team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Warner labels his former teammates “disgraceful” and Marnus Labuschagne’s career crisis continues to spiral as Australia endures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18761,64,63,47197,186181,516197,740,18754,196943,22256,139896,46853,1948,73708,85,1211,128206,44867],"class_list":["post-948781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alex-carey","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-vs-south-africa","tag-cam-green","tag-cape-town-test","tag-cricket","tag-david-warner","tag-day-five","tag-josh-inglis","tag-kagiso-rabada","tag-marnus-labuschagne","tag-pat-cummins","tag-quick-hits","tag-sports","tag-test-cricket","tag-third-test","tag-travis-head"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948781","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=948781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}