Josh Hazlewood tore through South Africa's resistance on day five in Durban, sealing a 214-run Australian win with the best figures of his Test career.
South Africa's batters found no escape in Durban as Josh Hazlewood produced a career-best 6 for 49 on the fifth day, dismissing the Proteas for 206 and handing Australia a 214-run victory. The hosts had dug in and blunted much of the visiting attack, but Hazlewood refused to be blunted.
It was a timely statement. Every time Scott Boland delivers a eye-catching spell, often when Hazlewood is injured, the same debate resurfaces: why isn't Boland the first-choice Test seamer, and why does Hazlewood walk back in when fit? Over a dozen years of Test cricket, Hazlewood has supplied plenty of answers. This one, on a testing final day, was among the loudest.
Boland has a strong case for a full-time place and might well have made a difference had he been in the XI. But with the team Australia selected, Hazlewood was the man who held things together. South Africa's batters negated his colleagues, and the pressure fell on the tall seamer to break through. He did, again and again.
Mitchell Starc, by contrast, had a day to forget. After such a brilliant run in recent seasons, his radar went missing. Around the wicket he looked better, though without the swerving reverse swing he found on his previous visit to this ground. Over the wicket he too often angled the ball across the right-handers or strayed down the leg side, which let South Africa breathe.
For the Proteas, the lesson is a hard one: they showed the grit to frustrate most of the Australian attack, but one relentless spell was enough to undo that work. Hazlewood's figures will linger as a reminder of just how much a patient, accurate seamer can change a Test.
