Smith ruled out as Australia make four changes

Steve Smith has been dramatically ruled out of the series-deciding third Test against South Africa with Josh Inglis among four inclusions to Australia's XI in Cape Town.

Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bowl first on a sunny morning at Newlands with the upheaval in the Australian XI marking the most changes they have made mid-series since their 2018 tour of South Africa.

The morning's theatre played out around an hour before the toss when Smith failed a last-minute fitness test on his troublesome neck.

South Africa XI: Aiden Markram, Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (c), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee

 

Australia XI: Matthew Renshaw, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wk), Cooper Connolly, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

The 37-year-old arrived at the ground well in advance of his teammates on Tuesday morning and hit the nets sporting a heat pack on his neck. He attempted to hit balls but was clearly frustrated, before chatting with the team doctor, coach Andrew McDonald and selector George Bailey.

Bailey then scurried out of the nets area ahead of Smith, presumably to inform Inglis he was now joining Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon in returning to the side for the crunch clash.

Smith re-emerged wearing runners around 40 minutes later after the team's warm-ups had already commenced, with Inglis by that point shadow batting on the pitch in preparation for his late call-up.

Connolly has replaced Beau Webster at No.7 to give the visitors a left-arm spin option, while Scott Boland has been an unfortunate omission after his second-Test five-for to allow Lyon to return.

Green is also back in the middle-order, taking Smith's spot at No.4, with Matthew Renshaw moving back up to open the batting with Travis Head and Inglis sliding into No.5. Nic Maddinson has already flown home after opening the first two Tests.

Cummins said Smith "had another little try (batting) this morning but wasn't happy with how his neck was feeling, so we had to look elsewhere.

"We've got some guys really well-placed, they've been here working hard the last couple of weeks. A couple of injuries (to Green and Inglis) they're coming back from and they're now 100 per cent."

Australia's skipper also said at the toss that leaving Boland out was "very hard – as it was hard to leave Nathan Lyon out last week. You can consider him very unlucky." 

South Africa had confirmed their XI on match eve with Gerald Coetzee's inclusion for the injured Anrich Nortje the only change to the side that levelled the series with an innings win in Gqeberha.

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First Test: Australia won by 214 runs in Durban

Second Test: South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs in Gqeberha

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Gerald Coetzee, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster