Australia vs South Africa, 3rd T20I at Cairns, AUS vs SA, Aug 16 2025 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Phew, that was a fun one. Australia win by two wickets with one ball to spare and take the series 2-1. The game swung one way then the other. Dewald Brevis starred again but Australia fought back with the ball. Mitchell Marsh laid the foundation for the chase but the middle order faltered. But Maxwell showed his class and skill, even as the lower order nearly gave it away. A very good three-match series. Plenty of entertainment. I'll have the presentation for you shortly.

Kannadachi: "Fitting that the series got decided in the last over ! It seemed Australia all the way till SA pulled it back. Maxwell had other ideas! Terrific game!"

Kiran: "As one of very few Aussies in the stadium in Mumbai when Maxwell scored his 201*, he can do no wrong to me."

Thamizhachi: "Glenn Maxwell turned the match when SA were batting with that screamer to send Dewald Brevis and has been cool as a cucumber to nail the chase!"

No surprise that Glenn Maxwell is player of the match: "It was a little bit nerve wracking. I think when we lost a couple of wickets in a row, Corbin Bosch bowled a brilliant over to sort of keep the run rate sort of near nine or ten and we were down the two wickets and I probably had to do the majority of the striking but it was it was nice to get a couple out of the middle right near the end."

Tim David is player of the series: "I think obviously without Maxi playing a blinding innings tonight I wouldn't be standing up here, so there's been contributions from everyone in our team throughout this series and we've had so much fun. We've had a great time playing up in the north of Australia so you know let's see what happens in the future. [I'm] just enjoying going out there competing. We do so much prep work it's about enjoying it when you get into the contest and keeping it really simple and not trying too hard. That's sounds very cliche, but it's been really enjoyable."

Aiden Markram: Good game of cricket, ended up on the wrong side of it unfortunately. Always small margins and when you reflect a lot of could have been's and should have been's and what if's but proud of the fight. 170 was maybe not enough on the night but we pretty much almost made it enough so some really good signs with the ball, Brevis with a bat throughout the series was really good [and] other guys putting their hands up here and there as well so still still some good things to take from it." [Brevis a future superstar?] "I don't want to jinx it, but I certainly think so. Not many guys can do what he can do and he's only like 22 or 23 so very special player, special talent and he works really hard so fingers crossed he's got a huge career, but I truly believe he does."

Mitchell Marsh: "Obviously it's always nice to win the the close ones um in T20 cricket and it was a little bit unorthodox, but very thankful that Max got us over the line. You never know what's going to happen that's for sure, but he's a world-class player, he's been so flexible. Think he's batted in three different positions in each game and we're just lucky to have him, he does everything um and he was class tonight."

So, on that note, we'll wrap things up there for tonight. A very entertaining series. We'll be back on Tuesday for the first three ODIs which will see a few different faces coming into both squads. They should be good games as well, with a longer view of the 2027 ODI World Cup in mind. Until then, from Gnasher, Alex and Thilak, it's goodbye and thanks for joining us.

Super Over?

4 off 4. Long chat between Ngidi and Markram

Maxwell or bust. Ngidi to bowl

Bosch on a hat-trick. Good game. Adam Zampa to face.

10 off 9. Maxwell hasn't got the strike. Nathan Ellis at No. 9

Run-a-ball for Australia. Dwarshuis on strike

Rabada for his final over. A massive six balls.