On a Rain-hit final day at St George’s Park, looked set to escape with a draw powered by ’s century and Scott Boland’s marathon 166-ball vigil. Then Wiaan Mulder took the ball. The South African all-rounder bowled with the keeper up, nipped one back to rattle Boland’s stumps, removed Head with a rising delivery that the left-hander chopped on, and later castled Pat Cummins. Those three wickets broke the last pieces of Australian resistance and helped South Africa complete a famous innings-and-31-run win to level the series.
Born Pieter Willem Adriaan Mulder on 19 February 1998 in Johannesburg, the 28-year-old right-handed batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler has become a key balance option for the Proteas. Wiaan Mulder made his ODI debut in 2017 and his Test debut in 2019, and was part of the side that won the 2025 final.
His biggest moment with the bat came in 2025 when, as stand-in captain against , he scored 367 not out before declaring. That innings set a new South African Test record, surpassed ’s previous mark, and ranks among the highest individual scores in the format. Mulder later said he stopped short of Brian Lara’s 400 out of respect for the West Indies legend. With the ball, he has repeatedly broken stubborn partnerships, exactly the role he filled in Gqeberha.
Australia had found an unlikely batting hero in Scott Boland. The 37-year-old nightwatchman turned a survival job into a full-day effort, dead-batting for 166 balls to score 40, his highest Test score, while Travis Head reached 121, only his second overseas Test century.
Rain had wiped out much of the first two days and the entire first session on day five, delaying South Africa’s second new ball. The hosts were also without the injured. Kagiso Rabada tested the outside edge, and Simon Harmer packed the field around Boland, yet the Australian pair kept grinding.
Wiaan Mulder changed the mood with nagging accuracy, bowling with the keeper up and seaming the ball both ways. He first removed Travis Head when the left-hander tried to climb the bounce and chopped onto his stumps. He then nipped one back through Scott Boland’s defence to hit the stumps, ending the third-longest innings by an Australian nightwatchman. Moments later he beat Pat Cummins’s outside edge to knock over the off stump. Those three wickets in the second innings (3-64) snipped the last pieces of Australia’s defiance.
Steve Smith, batting lower because of a neck issue, fell to a top-edged pull off that Matthew Breetzke held after a slight fumble. Alex Carey and Scott Boland had pushed the game into the final session, but once Mulder broke through, the end arrived quickly. Rabada returned to bowl Mitchell Starc, and Marco Jansen finished the job when Josh Hazlewood slashed loosely to the slips.
South Africa had declared on 425 for 9 after Temba Bavuma’s 179 and useful scores from Jansen and Harmer. Australia were dismissed for 99 in their first innings (Jansen 5-33) and forced to follow on, then 295 in the second. The result was an innings-and-31-run victory, the first time since 1970 that South Africa had beaten Australia after enforcing a follow-on, and only their fourth innings win against the visitors.
