South Africa broke Australia’s resistance in the final session to complete a famous victory in the second Test and set up a series decider in Cape Town.
Travis Head made 121 for Australia and Scott Boland survived 166 deliveries for 40 runs in an attempt to escape Gqeberha with a draw – the tourists’ hopes also boosted by the first session being wiped out by rain.
But the Proteas stuck to their task to take the six wickets needed to win by an innings and 31 runs as the light faded late on the last day.
Premier paceman Kagiso Rabada finished with 4-77 while Marco Jansen, whose 5-33 on day four put South Africa in the ascendancy, took the final wicket as Australia were dismissed for 295.
But all-rounder Wiaan Mulder also played a crucial hand, bowling with accuracy and finding movement off the pitch to dismiss Head, Boland and Australia captain Pat Cummins.
Some of South Africa’s great Test wins have come against Australia – notably in the last World Test Championship final two years ago and a Test on this ground in 2018 in the infamous Sandpaper series. This must surely rank highly among them.
They were heavily beaten in the first Test in Durban and when 40-4 and 110-6 in their first innings of this Test, there appeared only one winner in this series.
Instead, the contest has been turned on its head by Bavuma’s epic 179 and South Africa twice dismissing Australia, setting up a tantalising finale in Cape Town.
The most impressive number the Dodgers put up this season was 100 — the games they won. They had to do a lot of things right to get there.
No Dodger ranked among the top 16 in the majors in home runs or the top 37 in RBIs, yet they were fourth in runs scored. How? They were third in the majors in walks and near the bottom in strikeouts, which allowed them to manufacture runs by stringing together long innings rather than relying on the long ball.
Two games into the postseason, that script has flipped. After Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Braves, the Dodgers head to Atlanta with their best-of-five National League Division Series tied. Suddenly the Braves, who will start ace Chris Sale on Tuesday, have the edge.
“Getting the split in this place against these guys, yeah, it’s awesome,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said.
All seven of the Dodgers’ runs in the NLDS have come on five home runs, three of them with the bases empty. The Dodgers are 0 for 9 with men in scoring position, stranding 13 runners. They’ve also struck out three times more often than they’ve walked and are batting .215 against the relay team of 10 pitchers Atlanta has used.
“We didn’t throw out a bunch of hits, but there was still traffic,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We didn’t need many hits tonight to have a different result, and we just couldn’t get it.”
Sure it’s a small sample; just two games. Yet it should be a troubling one for the Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions.
“Sometimes it’s just you can’t hit,” said Mookie Betts, who walked twice. “I mean, there’s nothing really you can do to explain that. You’ve just got to be in the moment and come through. We had some moments today [when] we didn’t come through.
“That’s part of the game. We’ve just got to keep giving ourselves moments, and eventually something will happen.”
“We’ve got to find a way to score some runs without hitting a home run,” added Freddie Freeman, who homered Sunday and has three hits in the series. “That’s our biggest thing right now. So keep getting guys on base and get that big hit.”
Freeman said the Braves have done a good job keeping the Dodgers hitters off-balance by emptying their bullpen, sending in a fresh pitcher every couple of innings.
“It’s tough because you’re facing a different arm every single time you’re going up there,” Freeman said. “It’s different angles, different velocities, different things. So stringing hits together is very hard.
“This is the playoffs. We’re not going to score eight to 10 runs. It’s hard. Pitching staffs are good.”
Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández wondered whether the Braves’ game plan might soon backfire. Aside from Sale, Weiss has few pitchers left the Dodgers haven’t seen; eventually they’ll catch up, he says.
“We’ve seen basically the best out of the bullpen,” Hernández said. “We can have a better plan for Tuesday and Wednesday.”
Will Smith reacts after popping out during the fifth inning in the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the Braves on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Although the Dodgers committed the second-fewest errors and gave up the fewest unearned runs this season, they haven’t looked sharp defensively in the postseason, with all three Atlanta runs Sunday coming with two outs.
The Braves loaded the bases in the first inning on a single and two walks before scoring when a diving Betts snared a Mauricio Dubón grounder up the middle, but threw wild and late to first, enabling Ronald Acuña Jr. to score. They then went ahead to stay in the fifth on a line drive to left that Hernández misplayed into a triple, followed by reliever Kris Bubic’s wild pitch.
“I didn’t think he hit it that good,” Hernández said. “I didn’t break in, but I broke to the side. And then when I realized, it was too late.”
Atlanta’s final run came in the seventh when Michael Harris II one-hopped the wall in right-center, allowing Matt Olson, running from first on the full-count pitch, to score.
Now the advantage swings to the Braves, who go to Truist Park, where they had the second-best home record in the league.
“We knew it was going to be a battle. We knew those guys weren’t going to go down,” Roberts said of the Braves.
Kohli remained not out on 139 off 88 balls as the hosts romped to an eight-wicket win in their first ODI of the series.
Published On 28 Sep 202628 Sep 2026
Virat Kohli has become only the second batter after Sachin Tendulkar to reach 15,000 runs in men’s one-day international (ODI) cricket, achieving the milestone with an unbeaten century as India cruised to an eight-wicket victory over West Indies.
Kohli struck 139 not out from 88 balls and Shubman Gill made 110 as India chased down 296 with 50 balls to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series on Sunday.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The milestone comes just days after Kohli announced that he would retire from national duty after next year’s 50-over World Cup. The leading century-maker in ODIs has already retired from T20 internationals and Test cricket and now represents India only in the 50-over format.
Rohit Sharma and Gill launched the chase with a 74-run opening stand before Sharma was dismissed in the 12th over. Gill, the world’s top-ranked ODI batter, then took control, maintaining the aggressive approach and bringing up his 10th ODI century with a sweep.
Kohli came in at number three and notched his 86th international century, while Gill struck 110 in 108 deliveries as the pair put on a dominant 151-run stand off 132 balls that all but sealed the contest on Sunday.
Roston Chase eventually removed Gill, but Ruturaj Gaikwad made 13 off 19 balls and helped Kohli steer India home without further alarm. Kohli sealed victory with successive boundaries.
Put in to bat after the toss, Justin Greaves and John Campbell gave the West Indies a strong start, adding 135 from 117 balls for the opening wicket.
India struggled to find a breakthrough for much of the first 20 overs as the pair dominated the bowling and provided a solid platform.
Greaves, who was dropped by Sharma on 16, made India pay with a maiden ODI century and top-scored for the visitors.
The momentum shifted when Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Campbell in the 20th over, beating him in the air as he swept a catch to short fine leg. Yadav and Prasidh Krishna then applied the brakes on the West Indies innings as they lost four wickets for 22 runs between the 31st and 36th overs.
Yadav finished with 4-40 on his ODI return, but Amir Jangoo counterattacked with 58 off 43 balls. With support from Chase, he helped the West Indies recover from 198-5 and post 295.
