Australia secure series win after Sydney Test ends in tame draw

SYDNEY, Jan 8: South Africa batters finally showed some fight at the Sydney Cricket Ground to force a tame draw against Australia on the last day of the third and final Test of the series on Sunday.

Though Australia's imposing bowling attack failed to eke out a win from a rain-affected match, victories in Brisbane and Melbourne meant the Pat Cummins-led side were able to get a 2-0 series triumph and put themselves in pole position for a spot in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC).

Resuming from 149/6 on day five, Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer held fort for the first hour until Travis Head's part-time bowling took the former out. Harmer then joined forces with Keshav Maharaj for an essential 85-run partnership.

With the likely outcome of the game moving towards a draw, Josh Hazlewood stepped in to take out both Harmer and Maharaj to put Australia within one wicket of the follow-on. Nathan Lyon finally brought the Proteas innings to a close with dismissal of Kagiso Rabada as Australia enforced the follow-on over South Africa.

South African skipper Dean Elgar had some close shaves, but his tour came to a brutal end after he gloved behind off Pat Cummins. In the tour, Elgar managed just 56 runs at an average of 9.33.

Brief Scores: South Africa 255 and 106/2 (Sarel Erwee 42 not out, Temba Bavuma 17 not out, Josh Hazlewood 1/9) drew with Australia 475/4 declared.

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