There was a breathless finish in Cairns, and with it the perfect scene setter for the next act in the South Africa vs Australia T20 and ODI Series 2025. Australia edged the Proteas by two wickets in a gripping T20 decider, 173 for 8 with a ball to spare, and now the narrative shifts swiftly to a three-match ODI series where South Africa search for answers and, just as importantly, for belief.
Maxwell holds nerve in the Cairns finale
Glenn Maxwell chose calm over chaos, then produced a little of both. Chasing 173 at Cazaly’s Stadium, Australia looked home at 83 for 2 before South Africa’s quicks and clever change-ups dragged them into a dogfight at 122 for 6. With wickets tumbling around him, Maxwell refused singles late, trusted his range, and took it upon himself to calculate the chase.
Lungi Ngidi’s final over began with Australia needing 10, and it thickened with two dot balls that tightened every sinew in the ground. Maxwell steadied, then with four required off two balls, he uncorked a reverse ramp off a low full toss, piercing the vacant third man for the most audacious winning boundary. He walked off 62 not out from 36, eight fours and two sixes, his poise the separating line between triumph and heartbreak.
How Australia built a platform, then wobbled
Mitchell Marsh struck a commanding 54 to launch the pursuit, his stand with Travis Head adding 66 for the first wicket. Head fell to Aiden Markram for 19 to break the flow, and the tempo shifted again when teenager Kwena Maphaka hurried Marsh into a leg-side miscue. Three balls later Cameron Green followed with a similar dismissal and suddenly Australia had slipped from 83 for 2 to 88 for 4, the game crackling back to life for the tourists.
Kagiso Rabada returned in the 14th over and struck twice, first when Tim David pushed a full ball back to the bowler, then when Aaron Hardie picked out long on. Corbin Bosch tightened the screw in the penultimate over with two in two, leaving Australia nine off the last six and the contest on a knife-edge. South Africa were right there, but Australia had Maxwell, and that was the difference.
Brevis announces himself, again
If the night belonged to Maxwell at the close, it was lit early by Dewald Brevis. The 22-year-old smashed 53 off 26, an innings dusted with six sixes, three of them launched over the grandstand roof. It was the continuation of a breakout series in which he also hammered a national record 125 not out in the second T20. This was not slogging, it was conviction married to clean striking, and it reset South Africa’s innings after a stuttering 32 for 2 start inside five overs.
Brevis was eventually deceived by Nathan Ellis’s variation, a slower-ball bouncer pulled to deep midwicket where Maxwell sprinted and held a running catch. From 110 for 4 in the 12th, Rassie van der Dussen’s crisp 38 not out off 26 held the lower order together, Tristan Stubbs added 25 off 23, and the Proteas posted 172 for 7. The Australian response with the ball was led by Nathan Ellis at 3 for 31, with Adam Zampa 2 for 24 and Josh Hazlewood 2 for 30 providing the squeeze that kept the total within range.
What the numbers say about the tipping points
There were micro battles within the swirl. Maphaka, just 19, clocked in with 2 for 36 and the crucial dismissal of Marsh. Rabada’s 2 for 32 and Bosch’s 3 for 26 were the heartbeat of the death overs that pushed the hosts to the brink. On the flip side, Ellis’s skill through the middle overs and at the back end cut off South Africa’s acceleration after Brevis departed. For context, the result pushed Australia’s unbeaten run in bilateral T20I series to seven, while for South Africa it counted as a third straight defeat in high-pressure finals, a trend the Proteas will be eager to break as their limited overs rebuild gathers pace.
Conrad sees growth beneath the sting of defeat
Head coach Shukri Conrad did not sugarcoat the disappointment, yet his post-series tone was steady. He framed the narrow 2-1 loss as part of a longer pathway to the next T20 World Cup, slated for India and Sri Lanka early next year, and he liked what he saw from a squad blending returnees with emerging names.
It was a disappointing result but overall, I’m happy with the growth and progress that has been made and how we’re shaping up. We’ve got 14 T20 Internationals left before the World Cup so, all’s good and we’ll keep building.
Conrad’s selection approach in the series, including fielding four specialist bowlers with Rabada at eight in the second match, was deliberate. Marco Jansen and David Miller were absent, but the coach leaned into specialists and a braver batting mindset. Conrad said the top six should get it done, and that he is not obsessed with allrounders in this format.
No 8s usually only face eight or nine balls anyway, so if we want to be brave then we need to select attacks to beat a team like Australia. I concede we were a batter light for these games, then imagine what they can do when we’ve got a properly balanced side.
He also challenged a talented top order to push the envelope. He praised Brevis’s youthful fearlessness, and name-checked Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs as players with another gear to find. The goal is to show off a little more, to reveal the ceiling. Brevis has, in Conrad’s view, nailed down his T20 spot, and his intent can be a standard setter in the dressing room.
ODI series offers immediate redemption
The calendar offers no time to brood. The ODI series starts at Cazaly’s Stadium on Tuesday, then moves to Mackay’s Barrier Reef Oval on Friday and Sunday. One decisive subtext is already in place, Australia will be without Maxwell in the 50-over format following his retirement, while South Africa have injected fresh faces and retained Maphaka in a 16-man group.
Temba Bavuma returns from a hamstring injury sustained during the World Test Championship final and, importantly, he is fit and eager for the shift to the longer white-ball game. He confirmed that Markram and Rickelton will continue to open across formats, with Bavuma sliding in at number three as the brains trust explores balance and roles.
It’s been a busy time at home, but the time away from the game has allowed me to get the body strong again. I’m fully fit now, looking forward to the games ahead and raring to go again.
Bavuma is as curious as the rest of us to see how Brevis translates his tempo to ODIs and to learn more about Lhuan-dre Pretorius in this format. The exploration frame is explicit, the captain said the staff want to see where players fit and what the best XI looks like over time.
Maharaj cues the long view
Veteran spinner Keshav Maharaj underscored the dual-track planning. The immediate window is dominated by T20 cricket, but the ODIs in Australia are a chance to test combinations that point toward the home 2027 Cricket World Cup. For both player and coach, these games are a lab as much as a ledger.
It’s an opportunity to try combinations so that probably by next year, you’ll have a better and clearer understanding of the 2027 landscape towards a squad. It’s always nice playing three formats because it tests how you adapt.
Maharaj also kept the door open on T20 ambitions, saying he still wants to feature at the next T20 World Cup. The ODI squad around him blends established names and rising ones, including Pretorius, Corbin Bosch, Wiaan Mulder, Prenelan Subrayen and the precocious Kwena Maphaka.
The Proteas squads and the shifting roles
South Africa’s T20 lineup featured Markram as a newly minted opener, a role in which he managed scores of 18 and 12 before a single in the decider, while Rickelton partnered him at the top. In ODIs, the pair remain together with Bavuma at three, a continuity move that should aid clarity. The 50-over group also leans on the pace of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, the energy of Bosch, and the left-arm skills of Nandre Burger, with Subrayen and Maharaj offering spin options.
On the Australian side, the T20 decider eleven included Marsh, Head, Josh Inglis, Green, David, Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood. The ODI squad specifics were not detailed in the match reports, but Australia will, by confirmation, set up without Maxwell in the format, which subtly shifts their finishing blueprint.
Three themes to watch as the ODIs begin
- batting intent meets 50-over tempo, can South Africa maintain the Brevis-inspired aggression while building longer innings
- death bowling refinement, Bosch, Ngidi and Rabada created chances in Cairns, can they close more ruthlessly over ten-over spells
- middle-order roles, with Bavuma at three and Markram set as opener, how do Stubbs and van der Dussen calibrate risk against Australia’s variations.
What the decider revealed beyond the scoreline
It revealed that South Africa can wrestle a game back under pressure, that their young quick, Maphaka, can live in high-leverage overs, and that Bosch has the nerve for the hardest overs. It also showed that Australia’s white-ball method travels, and that someone of Maxwell’s craft can win a knife fight almost on instinct. The margins were as thin as a misfield, the difference a reverse ramp to a vacant third man.
Conrad’s comments about bravery feel central now. The ODI format gives batters more time to make, and bowlers more time to take. Yet the intensity remains the same, he argued, and that philosophical through-line is likely to shape team sheets and tactics. South Africa want to keep their foot down, then learn to land the final punch.
Bottom line in Cairns and beyond
Australia deserved the T20 series, 2-1, because they found the one man who could finish a chaos chase. South Africa left Cazaly’s Stadium with the sting of a near miss, but also the spark of Brevis, the composure of van der Dussen, and a bowling unit that asked stern questions of every Australian batter not named Maxwell.
The ODI series now offers a fresh canvas. It begins in the same sunlit corner of Queensland, then shifts to Mackay. There will be no Maxwell to bend the endgame this time. There will be Bavuma’s return, Markram’s continued trial at the top, and a deeper look at how a new generation blends with old hands. If the decider’s drama is any guide, the next chapter of this tour is set to be just as compelling.
Match and series quick facts
- series result, Australia won the T20Is 2-1
- third T20I result, Australia 173 for 8 beat South Africa 172 for 7 by two wickets
- top performers, Glenn Maxwell 62 not out, Mitchell Marsh 54, Dewald Brevis 53, Rassie van der Dussen 38 not out.
What comes next
First ODI in Cairns on Tuesday, followed by matches in Mackay on Friday and Sunday. Selection experimentation will be real, the stakes will still feel sharp, and the Proteas will be hunting the kind of clutch moments that swung the T20 finale. The plot has moved on, but the actors are the same, and the stage feels set for another close-run series.
