Josh Hazlewood's career-best 6-49 seals a 214-run win for Australia in Durban

Josh Hazlewood's career-best 6-49 bowled South Africa out for 206 at Kingsmead as Australia completed a 214-run win in the first Test

Australia started the final day needing six wickets and had all of them by the middle of the afternoon, dismissing South Africa for 206 in pursuit of 421 and taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Hazlewood finished with 6-49, the best innings return of his Test career, and claimed four of the six wickets that fell on the fifth day. Mitchell Starc removed Aiden Markram for 75, the only half-century South Africa managed in either innings.

The win was built on Matt Renshaw, whose 190 in the first innings and 82 in the second brought him 272 runs for the match and ended a wait of almost ten years between Test hundreds.

Hazlewood's best return

Hazlewood had already struck twice late on the fourth evening, dismissing Ryan Rickelton for 2 and trapping David Bedingham lbw for 46 as South Africa slipped to 102 for four at the close, still 319 short.

The new ball on the final morning did the rest. Markram, unbeaten on 45 from 115 balls overnight, pushed on to 75 before Starc found him, and the innings had no second act.

Marco Jansen made 35 from 54 balls and Wiaan Mulder occupied 110 balls for 29, but Hazlewood returned to close the match out. Kyle Verreynne made 1.

Renshaw took the other two wickets of South Africa's innings, having claimed his maiden Test wicket on day four when Temba Bavuma was caught at short leg by Nic Maddinson for 1.

Renshaw's long wait ends

Renshaw's 190 from 397 balls was his first Test century in nearly a decade and passed the 184 he made at the SCG in January 2017. Simon Harmer eventually had him caught at first slip by Markram, ten short of a double hundred.

His ninth-wicket stand with Nathan Lyon was worth 134 from 286 balls — the highest ninth-wicket partnership at Kingsmead and Australia's best for that wicket against South Africa. Lyon made 27 and batted 190 minutes.

"I never thought I'd be (back) here," Renshaw said after the innings, calling the day "pretty emotional, pretty special".

He returned in the second innings with 82 from 99 balls, seven fours and two sixes, before Keshav Maharaj held a return catch.

A stretched South African attack

South Africa were without Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, both absent with hamstring trouble, and the load fell on Mulder, who took 4-68 in Australia's first innings of 390.

Anrich Nortje was the most testing of the home bowlers, bowling Maddinson and Alex Carey in the second innings and striking Steve Smith on the helmet with a bouncer.

With the ball their own batting never matched it. South Africa's first innings of 284 contained no fifty at all, Harmer's 35 not out and Maharaj's 34 the highest contributions, and conceded a lead of 106.

Cummins declares with the game gone

Pat Cummins closed Australia's second innings at 314 for 6 half an hour before tea on day four, setting 421 — a target in world-record territory for a successful chase.

Maddinson made a Test-best 48 from 38 balls, Beau Webster finished 39 not out and Marnus Labuschagne made 37 from 58. Cummins himself hit four sixes in a 12-ball 32 not out before calling his batters in.

Smith, cleared to continue after the blow to the helmet, made 27 and was caught on the boundary by Jansen, but did not field after tea and is being assessed for concussion.

Bavuma's unbeaten run is over

The defeat is Temba Bavuma's first as South Africa's Test captain. He had led in 12 matches since his appointment in 2023 for 11 wins and a draw, every South African defeat in that time coming under another captain.

Australia, beaten by South Africa in last year's World Test Championship final, now have the series lead and a week to settle Smith's fitness.

The second Test starts at St George's Park, Gqeberha, on 18 October.

Scorecard: Australia 390 and 314 for 6 declared; South Africa 284 and 206. Australia won by 214 runs.

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