Sarel Erwee, Heinrich Klaasen and Temba Bavuma took part in the final session of Day 5 in Sydney to secure the tie and keep South Africa’s hopes of advancing to the WTC Finals alive. Australia entered the final day seeking 14 wickets for South Africa to extend their winning streak, but were beaten in the first innings by strong interference from South Africa’s 8 wickets his pair Keshav Maharaj and Simon Hamer. Defeated and sowed the seed of the end result. .
Pat Cummins’ blistering spell on Day 4 gave the home side hopes of a final day raid against a weak South African batting side as they headed into his bright and sunny Day 5 with dignity. but was tired of two frustrating booths. First, two overnight batsmen Simon Hamer and Marco Jansen played his 14.3 overs. They didn’t move the scoreboard much, but decisively cut into Australia’s remaining overs. Travis Head eventually made the cut on Jansen’s wicket, but the payout didn’t increase any time soon. Instead, Maharaj joined Hammer and took South Africa’s strength to another level, scoring a quick goal in the process.
Maharajji scored his 50, eight wickets for Hamer and he added 85 runs, but the story quickly changed in the session after lunch. Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon ended South Africa’s innings, with Cummins forcing a follow-up. By the time they broke for tea, Dean Elgar had been sacked in the second inning – he again choked on the side of his leg and was forced to head for the goalkeeper, giving Australia hopes of a finish. but it shouldn’t be.
Lyon’s frustration in his session last training mirrored Australia’s. Twice he thought Heinrich Klaessen was gone, only when the referee saved the South African hitter a hair’s width. At first, lbw his call looked perfectly vertical when Klaasen hit the pad while stuck in the crease of his hind leg. A judge on the ground rejected the appeal, forcing Australia to review. Television referees let them down because the impact of the ball hitting the pad was the referee’s call.
In the same over, Klaasen nodded and slid where Steve Smith made a low catch. At least, that’s what he and Australia thought until a TV referee turned it over. Because there wasn’t, the TV referee didn’t rule it out, explaining that Smith’s finger was torn under the ball and looked like this. The ball touched the ground. It was a tough challenge as the replay had to be decisive for the TV referee to turn the tide, but he ruled in favor of the hitters as he had done twice earlier in the game. Distraught, Lyon could do nothing but gloomily shake his head. Hazelwood then cleared Klaasen with a good-length delivery to his right-hander, creeping through a gap in the racquet pad.
Australia had faint hopes of a great win but were completely wiped out by the undefeated 42 in which he hit 125 balls and Bavuma in 17 balls where he hit 42. The pair hit 15 overs before Cummins shook hands with the opposition and decided to settle for a tie with five overs remaining in the day.
Brief Scores: South Africa 106/2 (f/o) (Sarel Erwee 42*, Heinrich Klaasen 35; Josh Hazlewood 1-9) & 255 (Keshav Maharaj 53, Simon Harmer 47; Josh Hazlewood 4-48, Pat Cummins 3-60) drew with Australia 475/4 decl. (Usman Khawaja 195*, Steve Smith 104; Anrich Nortje 2-55).