In the final match of the tense test series played at Newlands in Cape Town, South Africa defeated Australia by a score of 2-1, handing the Australians a loss by 176 runs. The Australian team, which was chasing a target of 288 runs on the fifth day, managed to score only 111 runs.
Following this decisive defeat, Australian captain Pat Cummins openly expressed his dissatisfaction with his team's poor play. Cummins attributed the loss to the batsmen's incorrect shot selection.
In the post-match press conference, Cummins admitted that playing on the fifth day pitch was difficult, but he noted the extremely poor performance of his batsmen. He stated that the players made a number of very bad decisions. Cummins added: 'I know it was the fifth-day pitch, but it wasn't that bad. You could have scored runs, and there were enough balls to stay in the game. There were shots that the players will never want to do again.'
Cummins also acknowledged that losing early wickets at the start of the innings put the team in a defensive position, although the target of 288 runs was quite achievable. He emphasized that the team's recent performance does not meet expectations, and there is a great need for improvement.
Cummins explained his choice to opt for bowling at the start of the match. He believed that the pitch would greatly assist fast bowlers on the first day. However, this did not happen. South Africa scored 329 runs in the first innings, to which Australia responded by scoring 429 runs, gaining a comfortable lead of 100 runs. Nevertheless, all their hard work was rendered in vain due to poor play in the second innings.