South Africa crush Australia in Gqeberha despite Boland's five

Result, 23 Oct 2026: South Africa won the second Test by an innings and 31 runs on Thursday, 22 October, to level the series 1-1. Australia, following on, were bowled out for about 295 despite Travis Head's 121, ABC News and Outlook India reported. The decider is in Cape Town from Tuesday, 27 October.

Update, 21 Oct 2026, 8 PM (IST): The match has turned. Captain Temba Bavuma made a Test-best 179 as South Africa declared at 425 for 9, with Boland finishing on 5 for 81. On day four, Marco Jansen took 5 for 33 as Australia were bowled out for 99 and made to follow on, Sky Sports and AFP reported. The latest is in the new section below.

Scott Boland was never meant to be the story of this Test. He was the fourth seamer in a squad full of famous fast bowlers, picked only because Australia decided to leave out Nathan Lyon. Two rain-hit days later, he has 4 for 31, and South Africa are 97 for 5 in the second Test at St George's Park, Gqeberha.

It is the kind of thing Boland keeps doing. Whenever Australia need someone to fill a gap, he walks in and bowls as if he has never been away.

Key points

• Result: South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs on 22 October; the three-Test series is level at 1-1.
• Match: South Africa vs Australia, 2nd Test, Gqeberha, 18 to 22 October 2026.
• Update, day 3: South Africa declared at 425 for 9 (Bavuma 179); Boland finished with 5 for 81.
• Update, day 4: Australia bowled out for 99 (Jansen 5 for 33) and made to follow on, 326 runs behind.
• Stumps, day 2: South Africa 97 for 5, Temba Bavuma 41 not out. Boland 4 for 31, Mitchell Starc 1 wicket.
• Boland came in for off-spinner Nathan Lyon, the only change from Australia's win in the first Test.
• He took two wickets in two balls on day one, then two more on day two.
• Before this Test, Boland had 82 wickets in 19 Tests at an average under 19.
• Day 5: Travis Head made 121 and Boland 40 as nightwatchman, but Kagiso Rabada (4 for 77) and Wiaan Mulder (3 for 64) finished the job.

How the first two days went

Day 1, Sunday 18 October: Australia won the toss and chose to bowl on a damp Gqeberha morning. Rain kept getting in the way: play started about two hours late, lunch came after just 5.3 overs, and the day was called off at 4.15 pm local time with only 12.2 overs bowled, Sky Sports reported.

That was still enough time for Boland. In the ninth over he had Aiden Markram (11) out off an inside edge, and with the very next ball he removed David Bedingham for a duck. South Africa closed on 20 for 2.

Day 2, Monday 19 October: More rain delayed the start by about six hours, eNCA reported. When play did begin, Australia kept squeezing.

• Marques Ackerman, on Test debut, had survived to the end of day one, but he was caught behind off Boland for 6.
• Matthew Breetzke was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey off Starc for 4, leaving South Africa at 40 for 4.
• Ryan Rickelton (31) and captain Temba Bavuma then added 52 for the fifth wicket, the best partnership of the innings.
• Boland broke it. Rickelton edged to first slip, where Matt Renshaw held a sharp one-handed catch.

Bavuma was 41 not out at stumps, with Wiaan Mulder on 2.

Boland's four wickets

Day 3 and day 4: South Africa hit back

The story changed completely after Boland's opening burst.

Day 3, Tuesday 20 October: Bavuma, who had held South Africa together from 40 for 4, went on to a Test-best 179. He added 132 for the seventh wicket with Marco Jansen, who made 85, and Simon Harmer then struck 82, as part of a South African record eighth-wicket stand of 183, Sky Sports reported. South Africa declared at 425 for 9 after 127.1 overs. Boland took one more wicket to finish with 5 for 81, and Mitchell Starc took 3 for 89. Australia lost a wicket in the few overs before stumps and closed at 3 for 1.

Day 4, Wednesday 21 October: Jansen struck with his first ball of the day, having Boland, sent in as nightwatchman, caught behind. He went on to take the wickets of Travis Head, Matt Renshaw, Alex Carey and Beau Webster, finishing with 5 for 33. Kagiso Rabada took 2 for 33 and Wiaan Mulder 2 for 14, and Harmer held three catches, including a diving one-handed catch at slip to remove Marnus Labuschagne. Steve Smith top-scored with 28.

Australia were all out for 99, 326 runs behind, and South Africa enforced the follow-on. It was the first time Australia had been bowled out for under 100 since India dismissed them for 91 in Nagpur in February 2023, according to reports. In their second innings, Australia were 50 for 1 at tea, AFP reported, and 95 for 1 later in the day, according to ABC's live coverage.

Day 5: South Africa finish the job

Rain washed out the first session on Thursday, 22 October, so South Africa had less time to take the six wickets they still needed, ABC News reported. Australia had a chance of saving the match while Travis Head batted. He made 121 off 190 balls, his 13th Test century, and Scott Boland, who had gone in as nightwatchman, held up an end for 166 balls for 40, Outlook India and ABC reported.

Once they were parted, the end came quickly. Wiaan Mulder bowled Boland with an off-cutter and removed captain Pat Cummins for 4, and Kagiso Rabada bowled Mitchell Starc for 11. Australia were 253 for 6 at tea. Fittingly, Marco Jansen, the star of day four, took the last wicket, Josh Hazlewood for a duck, caught by Aiden Markram at second slip, Outlook India reported.

South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs, a remarkable turnaround for a side that had been 110 for 6 in their first innings, Outlook India noted. Cummins admitted his side had been "a long way away from our best", ABC News reported.

Why Boland was playing at all

Australia won the first Test in Durban by 214 runs, so there was little reason to change a winning side. But with the conditions in Gqeberha, they chose an all-pace attack led by captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Nathan Lyon was left out and Boland came in, the only change to the team, Sky Sports and eNCA reported. eNCA noted that Boland usually waits behind Cummins, Starc and Josh Hazlewood for a place.

That is a big call. Lyon is one of the most successful bowlers in Test history, and Australia rarely play without him. It also says something about Boland's place in this team. He is 37, he had not played a first-class match since March, and he had not played a Test since January, eNCA reported. Yet when the selectors wanted a fourth seamer, he was the one they trusted.

The "super-sub" record

Boland has built a career out of moments like this.

• Debut, MCG, December 2021: Called up for the Boxing Day Ashes Test on his home ground in Melbourne, he took 6 for 7 in the second innings as England collapsed and Australia retained the Ashes.
• Sydney, January 2025, against India: Brought in for the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after Josh Hazlewood was injured, he took 4 for 31 in the first innings and 6 for 45 in the second. His match haul of 10 for 76, his first ten-wicket haul in Tests, won him player of the match as Australia won by six wickets and took back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Indian fans will remember that Sydney Test well. His first-innings figures there were exactly the same as his figures in Gqeberha so far: 4 for 31.

Before this Test, Boland had 82 wickets in 19 Tests at an average of about 18.6, according to his record on ESPNcricinfo. Among bowlers with a long Test career, that is one of the lowest averages of the modern era. After the Sydney Test, Wisden reported that his average was the best of its kind in 111 years.

How he does it

Boland is known less for pace than for accuracy. He keeps landing the ball in the same area, over after over, and waits for the pitch or the batter's patience to give way. On a damp Gqeberha pitch under cloud, that was exactly the right skill.

South Africa's batting coach Ashwell Prince summed it up after day two: "He doesn't miss his spot very often," he said, according to eNCA.

Boland himself kept it simple. Asked about missing so many matches behind Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood, he said he wants to play every game he can, while accepting that it is not always possible.

He also does a lot of work away from matches to stay ready. Cricket.com.au reported that he sometimes does long shadow-bowling sessions before games, and that he felt good going into this Test even after months without first-class cricket.

What happens next

The series is level at 1-1, and everything comes down to the third and final Test at Newlands, Cape Town, from Tuesday, 27 October, ABC News reported. South Africa go in with momentum after this comeback; Australia must recover quickly from being bowled out for 99.

For Boland, the bigger question is what happens in the third Test. Lyon is still Australia's first-choice spinner, and Australia have rarely played a Test without him. Once again, Boland has done everything he can to make the selectors' next decision a difficult one.

Five wickets in a Test he was not expected to play. For Scott Boland, it is starting to look like a habit, even in a match that South Africa went on to win by an innings.