South Africa and Australia are level at 1-1 heading into the series-deciding third Test at Newlands in Cape Town, scheduled for October 27-31, after South Africa's innings-and-31-run win at Gqeberha squared the ledger following Australia's 214-run win in the series opener at Durban.
This is Australia's first Test tour of South Africa since 2018, when their previous visit to Newlands ended in the ball-tampering scandal that saw David Warner and Steve Smith banned for a year and stripped of leadership roles. Smith is back in Cape Town as a senior batter rather than captain, with Pat Cummins — uninvolved in that episode — leading the side instead; Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon are the other players from that 2018 squad still involved on this tour.
Cameron Green, who has missed both Tests so far with an abdominal strain, has resumed batting in training and is reportedly being targeted for a return in Cape Town, according to Australian reports, though his bowling workload for the Test was not confirmed at the time of writing. His availability would give Australia's top order a batting option they have not had access to all series.
Beyond the series result itself, both sides sit among the top two teams in the ICC's Men's Test rankings and the current World Test Championship cycle, meaning the outcome at Newlands carries direct weight on the path to the next WTC final. A series win would be South Africa's first response to the Durban defeat that goes beyond simply avoiding a series loss on home soil; for Australia, it would confirm their position as the form Test side of the cycle on the road as well as at home.
Temba Bavuma's 179 and Marco Jansen's five-wicket haul in Gqeberha make both standout South Africa picks heading into the decider, while Australia's reliance on Travis Head to carry the middle order through both Tests so far makes his wicket the one South Africa's bowlers will be targeting hardest.
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Scores, standings and squad details in this article are verified against same-day and freshly re-checked sources as of October 25, 2026; Cameron Green's exact role for this Test was unconfirmed at the time of writing and is flagged as such.
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