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Barring extended rain or any other unforeseen happening today,Barbados should subject the Windward Islands to their fifth successivedefeat and keep alive their slim hopes of winning the Busta Cup.Set 335 from a minimum of 115 overs after an enterprising, excitingdisplay from Philo Wallace and Sean Armstrong, rock-bottom Windwardsshowed more resilience than they have all season in the 25 overs theyfaced before the close.They reached 67 for two, principally anchored by their solid 18-yearold opening batsman Romel Currency. He batted though until the end inthe company of the Windwards’ most dangerous batsman, Junior Murray.Murray, however, should take been back in the pavilion, but Ryan Hindsmissed an easy chance at extra-cover from a long-hop off leg-spinnerDave Marshall.The Windwards have lost each of the four previous matches and have ahighest score was 257.Barbados owed their commanding position to their healthy first inningsadvantage of 142 and it was impressively built on by a second-wicketstand of 111 between Wallace and Armstrong.Wallace, under the microscope after a string of low scores, was theWallace of old, clobbering the ball with typical power in an inningsof 78.Armstrong, who joined Wallace after Adrian Griffith departed for abreezy 18, was not as forceful, but was just as effective in playingsome scintillating strokes in completing his second half-century ofthe tournament.Most eyes, however, were on Wallace following his first-ball duck inthe first innings. Interestingly enough, he took first strike for thefirst time in the tournament and was immediately into stride.Whenever the Windwards bowlers dropped a trifle short, they weredisdainfully pulled away. Leg-spinner Orlando Jackson was twicedespatched over mid-wicket and onto the big scoreboard.In addition to those two sixes, Wallace also belted eight fours. Somewere pulls, some were extra-cover drives and some were guided over theheads of the slips. Armstrong, in one over from left-arm fast-mediumDeighton Butler, hit three successive boundaries – a cut, a lofted ondrive and a pull. But his most memorable shot was a stylish short-armpull in his unique manner.The No. 3 batsman reached his half-century with eight fours, but soonfell on 53 to a ball from leg-spinner Rawl Lewis that bounced, tookthe glove of the batsman and the wicket-keeper and ended in a juggledcatch to Devon Smith at slip.Wallace followed in the next over. After another of his ferociouspulls, he drove the next delivery down the throat of Smith at extracover.In the brief period before tea, Roland Holder and Courtney Browne werecontent to defend, but both perished soon after the interval whenBarbados were looking to increase the tempo.A few meaty blows from Hendy Bryan, whose unbeaten 29 came off 28balls, allowed Barbados to make the declaration a bit earlier thanmost anticipated. It was made 40 minutes after the break with thetotal 192 for five off 50 overs.There was immediate success for Barbados with Corey Collymore inducingteenager Devon Smith into edging a catch to the keeper from a ballthat bounced nicely.Out came Kirsten Casmir to play the type of strokes he unleashedduring his 63 against the Leeward Islands on debut in the previousround of matches.The little Dominican smacked five boundaries in 28 before gifting hiswicket to an inexcusable cross-batted swing against Ryan Austin’sflighted off-break.By then, Currency was batting as solid as ever. He resumes thismorning on 22 as a key figure in the Windwards’ plans to earn theirfirst point of the tournament. He is so well-organised that it is hardto believe that he has never once converted any of his promisingstarts into a significant contribution. Today is his chance.Murray is another player who could hold up Barbados with hisforthright, aggressive methods. He ended the day on 14, five more thanhe should have gotten, courtesy of Hinds’ miss.Earlier, Barbados polished off the Windwards tail by claiming the lastthree wickets 22 after the visitors resumed on 103 for seven.

A maiden first-class century from young wicketkeeper Matthew Hurst salvaged some pride for Lancashire but could not stop Nottinghamshire completing their first victory of the season, by nine wickets, in the Vitality County Championship match at Trent Bridge.Nottinghamshire had begun the final day of this Division One clash sniffing an innings win, holding a 72-run advantage with Lancashire six down. Yet 20-year-old Hurst defied them with an impressive 104 that included 10 fours and four sixes.Lancashire were dismissed for 252, leaving the home side needing just 81 to win with 50 overs remaining, so the result was never in serious doubt, but given that they had been 61 for 6 on the third evening, the visitors could console themselves with having put up a fight.Hurst and England spinner Tom Hartley (50) were the principal sources of frustration for Nottinghamshire, sharing a seventh-wicket stand of 116.Dillon Pennington, who delivered several spells of top-class fast bowling over both innings, was rewarded with figures of 4 for 61, his best return so far for Nottinghamshire after moving from Worcestershire over the winter, before the home side wrapped up a 22-points win in 18.4 overs with opener Ben Slater their only loss.Lancashire remain bottom of Division One after three defeats in their opening five matches, while Nottinghamshire have their first win under new red-ball captain Haseeb Hameed, whose magnificent unbeaten 247 in their first innings was the biggest component in their victory. Opener Hameed, who finished 24 not out in his second innings, was on the field for every minute of the contestWhen Hartley joined Hurst on Sunday, a target of 172 just to make the home side bat a second time was looking beyond Lancashire. But having battled through to the close, the pair set themselves again on the fourth morning, determined that those efforts would not go to waste.They began with Nottinghamshire, who had made 503 in reply to Lancashire’s first-innings 331, still comfortably ahead and at short odds to get the job done ahead of the lunch interval.But after seeing off Pennington and Olly Stone through their opening overs, the two kept their focus well enough to survive the first hour unscathed and grew confident enough as the ball began to lose its hardness to up the tempo, Hurst greeting legspinner Calvin Harrison’s appearance in the attack with a six over long-on.An on-drive for four by Hurst off Harrison took the partnership into three figures. The pugnacious right-hander was dropped by Harrison at slip off Lyndon James on 46 but quickly completed his fifty from 87 balls, bringing the scores level in the same over.Hartley’s half-century came off 98 balls with seven fours but he could not add to it before Harrison atoned for his earlier error with a fine catch at second slip as James at last achieved a breakthrough.Pennington then had too much pace for Tom Bailey, who was dismissed leg before just ahead of lunch, Lancashire heading for the dining room with a lead of just 26 and only two wickets in hand.With Phil Salt currently playing in the IPL, Hurst has made himself first-choice keeper in the Lancashire squad but would justify his place as a batter on the evidence so far.He had three half-centuries in nine first-class innings before this match and had the confidence to take on the likes of England speed merchant Stone and the similarly pacy Pennington despite suffering a painful blow on his bottom hand facing James just before lunch.After Harrison’s dismissal of Will Williams left him with last man Saqib Mahmood for company, Hurst hammered Stone over the wide midwicket boundary and cleared the rope twice in the same James over to go to his hundred, before another attempt at a maximum saw him caught at deep midwicket off Harrison.Mahmood ended Slater’s attempt to bring a rapid conclusion by having him caught behind for 31 off 32 balls but Hameed and Will Young guided Nottinghamshire to the finish line with no further alarms.

Shaun Marsh struck an unbeaten half-century to guide Western Australia to a six-wicket win over South Australia in a rain-affected one-day clash at the WACA Ground.In a match with four rain delays, WA were originally set a victory target of 199 off 35 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern system, before that was revised down to 165 off 27 overs.WA slipped to 4 for 74, but Marsh (80 no off 63 balls) and D’Arcy Short (35 no off 27 balls) got the home side over the line with an unbeaten 93-run stand. Marsh cracked 11 fours and a six in his classy knock.The game was still delicately poised with three overs to go and WA needing 29 runs for victory, but South Australia unravelled from that point. Brendan Doggett bowled a delivery so wide that it didn’t even hit the pitch, with WA peeling 12 runs off his wayward over.Wes Agar fared even worse straight after, bowling two no-balls and a wide to start the over. Short made him pay, thumping a six off one of the free hits, before Marsh cracked two boundaries later in the over to secure victory with eight balls to spare. Agar’s over, which consisted of only four legal deliveries, ended up costing 19 runs.Earlier, the Redbacks compiled a total of 6 for 193 off 35 during an innings that was disrupted three times by rain. Opener Jake Weatherald top-scored for the visitors with 60 off 81 balls, while Daniel Worrall (31no off 25 balls) and Nathan McAndrew (21no off 15 balls) combined for an unbeaten 55-run partnership to boost South Australia’s score.Dangerman Travis Head, who had posted scores of 163 and 230 in his two previous one-day knocks this season, was out for 28 when he edged Lance Morris behind.The Redbacks were struggling at 3 for 48 in the ninth over, but the second rain delay allowed them to regroup and stop the wobbles. Matt Kelly dismissed Weatherald and Ryan Gibson in consecutive balls later in the innings. Kelly’s hat-trick ball was a cracker, with Worrall almost edging it behind.WA allrounder Cameron Green, who is vying for an Ashes berth, returned figures of 1 for 38 off seven overs.

Lightning 320 for 6 (K Bryce 162, S Bryce 90) beat Sparks 296 for 6 (Kelly 62, Jones 60) by 24 runsA brilliant career-best 162 from skipper Kathryn Bryce helped Lightning end Central Sparks’ hopes of avoiding the play-off round in their bid to reach the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.Sparks were already sure of finishing in the top three but a win with a bonus point against Lightning could have seen them end as group-stage winners on net run rate depending on the outcome of the Southern Vipers-Northern Diamonds clash in Southampton.But after Lightning posted a season-high 320 for 6 in their 50 overs after being asked to bat first, Sparks needed to overhaul that total inside 40 overs if they were to pick up the extra point, awarded if the winning team’s scoring rate is 25 per cent better than their opponents.Not surprisingly, that proved beyond them and despite half-centuries from openers Eve Jones (60) and Marie Kelly (62) helping them to a season-high 296 for 9, they lost by 24 runsVipers, who came out on top at the Ageas Bowl, now go through directly to next Saturday’s final at Northamptonshire’s County Ground, while Sparks and Diamonds must play off on Wednesday to decide who joins them.Kathryn Bryce shared a 207-run partnership for the second wicket with her younger sister, Sarah, the biggest in this season’s competition among any of the eight teams.Sarah was dropped on five but made the most of her good fortune, following her unbeaten 136 against Sparks last season with 90 off 104 balls, hitting 11 fours and a six before she fell to a fine one-handed catch by Issy Wong at mid-off.Having completed her maiden List A hundred from 126 balls, Kathryn – who also captains Scotland Women – added another 61 from the next 30, racking up 21 fours and two sixes, batting for just short of three hours in total.Lightning lost a wicket in the third over when Bethan Ellis was caught behind, Sarah Bryce having been put down at square leg in the previous over.The Bryce sisters dominated for the next 36 overs before Sarah’s demise, after which Abbey Freeborn, Beth Harmer and Ella Claridge all fell cheaply.But Sonia Odedra helped Kathryn Bryce add 63 in the last five overs, including 35 from the final 12 deliveries from Wong (3-61) and Ria Fackrell before Bryce’s magnificent effort ended when she was run out off the final ball of the innings.Jones and Kelly – dropped on 24 off Odedra – gave the Sparks’ chase the early momentum required, putting on 119 in 23.5 overs before the latter was superbly stumped off Yvonne Graves.Jones was caught behind off England left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon, who increased her tally to 16 as the competition’s leading wicket-taker. Gwen Davies made 41 off 30 balls with four fours and two sixes but the pressure to score quickly inevitably cost Sparks wickets, Gordon, Odedra and Grace Ballinger picking up to each.

Antigua 2000, Dominica 2017 and now Jamaica 2021. West Indies and Pakistan added another chapter to the list of enthralling, nail-biting Tests between these two sides as the hosts eked out a stunning one-wicket win with Nos. 9 and 11 holding on.As Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales kept batting, the nerves kept building. Finally, it all came down to a fateful Hasan Ali over, as a nick evaded a valiant dive from Mohammad Rizwan to race away for a boundary before Roach pushed two through the off side to guarantee a 1-0 series lead.Pakistan had their chances, but the story, for now, is thoroughly West Indian. The hosts looked like they had been edged out of this match so often towards the death, and yet refused to acknowledge it was game over. But it did look like that when Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers fell in quick succession, when Jason Holder was cleaned up by Hasan and when Joshua Da Silva – the last recognized batter – fell with 26 still to go. However, West Indies kept knocking down the runs, and the scoreboard pressure shifted entirely to Pakistan. The visitors might have been firm favourites after the hosts had been reduced to nine down, but as Pakistan lost their nerve, Roach and the teenager Seales held theirs.For Pakistan, there was historical precedence in perhaps their most famous Test of all. In 1954, a Fazal Mahmood inspired side defended 167 – exactly what they had on the board today – against England at the Oval: the origin story of Pakistan cricket. It might even have been comfortable when Shaheen Afridi blew apart the top order, and when a middle-order West Indian collapse saw Pakistan burrow deep into their tail. But the catching, so sensational up until the final session, let them down in crucial moments.Roach was put down by Rizwan as a partnership with Da Silva flowered, before Hasan dropped him as well in the deep with 19 runs still to get. In the final session, Da Silva was once again dropped by Abbas. Rizwan’s 45-yard sprint to seal Jomel Warrican’s fate looked also to have done it for West Indies, but there was perhaps an opportunity to pluck a diving one-handed catch off the Roach edge that ended up going to the boundary in that final over.It may seem ages ago now, but a dramatic morning session saw more drama than many entire days, spanning eight wickets across two innings. Seales led the charge in the mission to remove the lower order cheaply, and within an hour-and-a-half, Pakistan’s last five had fallen for 35. Of those 35 runs, 28 were added by an enterprising Hasan in just 26 balls with two fours and two sixes. That pushed the lead above 150 for Pakistan, each extra run giving himself and his fellow bowlers precious breathing room.Moreover, Babar Azam’s presence at the crease was always going to be vital, but a Mayers delivery seared up off a crack and looped up to Holder at second slip early in the day. Azam had departed for a valiant 55, and while it brought Pakistan agonizingly close, his side ended up needing just a bit more from him.From there on, it was down to the raw pace of Seales against Pakistan’s lower order. Yasir Shah and Afridi were sent back with little bother, but Hasan rode his luck as Pakistan brought up 200. Seales, though, would not be denied a maiden five-for in just his second Test, and got there when Hasan’s hook went straight to Roach at fine leg. In the process, he became the youngest West Indies bowler to earn a Test five-for as the hosts were set 168 to win.Jayden Seales became the youngest West Indies bowler to a Test five-for•AFP/Getty Images

The Afridi show began in a somewhat surreal over that had three reviews for leg before wicket by Pakistan against Kieran Powell, the third finally resulting in success. Kraigg Brathwaite didn’t last long in the face of a hostile spell from Afridi, his poke at one that jagged away leading to his downfall, but only after a review. Nkrumah Bonner dragged on in Afridi’s following over, and suddenly, the pre-lunch session turned into a damage-limitation exercise for West Indies.After the mad rush of the first session came the relative slow burn of the second. No less absorbing for its slightly slower pace, it carried with it the sensation of a building crescendo. West Indies made the early running as Chase and Jermaine Blackwood, West Indies’ top scorer with 55, threatened to take it away for the hosts with a 68-run fourth wicket partnership.They came out after lunch a much more confident pair, Blackwood continuing to put anything too wide or too full away. Hasan in particular came in for punishment off successive overs as he struggled with his lines; and with a small target to defend, there wasn’t much room for error, every boundary tilting the scales the batters’ way.Chase, Pakistan’s pet peeve in 2017, was looking just as untroubled without quite having as much of an impact on the scoreboard. But all West Indies needed was a partnership, and as long as the pair continued remained at the crease, the danger signs flashed for Pakistan.Faheem Ashraf, Pakistan’s impact allrounder of late, was the man to break the partnership, constantly threatening Chase’s outside edge in a probing over. When the edge came, Imran Butt was never going to drop a low catch; and in Ashraf’s next over, the same combination got rid of Kyle Mayers for a pair.But the moment of the session came in late, when a few Holder boundaries had brought the required runs down under 60. Blackwood hung his bat out at Hasan once too often, sending it straight to first slip; except Butt at second decided only he could be trusted behind the stumps, diving sensationally to his left to hold on to a stunner. On the stroke of tea, Holder found his off peg knocked back with a beauty.It looked like a bridge too far when Da Silva and Roach came out after tea still needing 54, but as in Antigua and Dominica, the West Indies lower order refused to give in. They began to knock off the runs gradually, and suddenly, with the pair looking relatively untroubled, West Indies had less than 30 left to go. Pakistan, to their alarm, found they were still in a game, and with West Indies refusing to roll over, it became a game of shredded nerves as much as exquisite skill.There was the glory of Rizwan’s catch that spanned the length of the ground, the errors like Hasan’s drop at deep square leg, the guts of Roach going for his shots with the ultimate consequence on the line and the heart of Seales seeing off some searing pace bowling from Afridi. Pakistan broke West Indian hearts four years ago, but in a classic that contained shades of Antigua, West Indies have exacted exceptionally sweet revenge in Jamaica.

Shubham Rohilla’s maiden List-A century, a 136-ball 118, set the base for Haryana‘s 53-run win over Assam in Delhi. Rohilla and his opening partner, Nitin Saini, led a strong batting performance with a 132-run partnership for the first wicket. Saini was dismissed for an 84-ball 54, after which rapid knocks from Chaitanya Bishnoi (42 off 37 balls), Shivam Chauhan (47 off 24 balls) and Rahul Tewatia (35 not out off 13 balls) took the side past 300. Chauhan and Tewatia added 41 runs for the fourth wicket off only 15 balls, after Rohilla had been dismissed, having struck 12 fours and a six in his innings.Assam struggled from the start in their chase, with few batsmen going on to convert their starts. The two who did so were captain Arun Karthik (60 off 63 balls) and No. 10 Pritam Das (65 not out off 43 balls). Das’ 77-run partnership for the tenth wicket with Arup Das was the best in Assam’s innings and whittled down the margin of defeat after they had been 176 for 9 in the 37th over.Fifties from Baroda opener Aditya Waghmode (92 off 82 balls) and Deepak Hooda (78 not out off 63 deliveries) steered the side to a five-wicket win over Odisha, as they chased down 282 with 22 balls to spare.Waghmode steered the chase early on, adding half-century stands for the first and second wickets with Kedar Devdhar and Krunal Pandya. Once Waghmode was dismissed, Hooda and Yusuf Pathan (38) gradually shut Odisha out of the game with a steady 109-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Hooda’s unbeaten knock included six fours and four sixes. Odisha’s 281 for 7 was built on a half-century from Govinda Poddar (77 off 86 balls), while Anurag Sarangi (37), Subhranshu Senapati (35) and Abhishek Yadav (40) also chipped in. Left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh was the best bowler for Baroda with returns of 3 for 58.An unbeaten 69 from Gurkeerat Singh and a quickfire 46* off 24 balls from Manpreet Gony helped Punjab to a slim three-wicket win against Railways in Delhi. Punjab were struggling at 167 for 7 while chasing 247 before Gurkeerat and Gony joined forces in the 42nd over. They hammered 80 runs in only 47 balls to take Punjab home in the last over. The win was also highlighted by Yuvraj Singh’s run-a-ball 66 after Railways had removed the Punjab top order within 20 overs.Earlier, Railways came close to scoring 250 led by a half-century from captain Arindam Ghosh (83). Their biggest partnership was of 91 between Pratham Singh (41 off 100) and Ghosh for the third wicket, but regular wickets thereafter meant Railways could not put up a massive score to challenge the Punjab line-up.

A miserly spell of 3 for 6 in four overs from legspinner Shubham Agarwal helped Chhattisgarh eke out a six-run victory over Railways in Jaipur. Chhattisgarh have now won two matches out of four and sit in third place in the Central Zone group table. Railways were 93 for 3 in the 14th over after being set 127 to win, but could manage only 27 for 5 from the last 6.1 overs after Shubham removed set batsman Hemant Singh (24 off 31).Part-time offspinners Ashutosh Singh, who removed Mahesh Rawat for 27 off 21, and Sahil Gupta, who dismissed Karn Sharma, also played their parts. The duo conceded only three runs and took a wicket each from their respective solitary overs. Earlier, Shubham had top-scored for Chhattisgarh, scoring 36 off 32 balls after Amandeep Khare (31 off 19) – the only other batsman to go past 30 in the match – had been dismissed in the sixth over. Medium-pacer Amit Mishra took 3 for 16 as Railways restricted their opponents to 126.File photo – Piyush Chawla took 3 for 37 but couldn’t rescue his team with the bat as they folded for 135 in their chase•BCCI

Chandrakant Sakure picked up the wickets of Piyush Chawla (24 off 18) and Praveen Kumar (20 off 14) on debut as Madhya Pradesh defended 161 against Uttar Pradesh to remain unbeaten after three matches in the Inter-State T20 tournament. UP, who were bowled out for 58 against Railways on Thursday, slumped to 60 for 6 in 11.1 overs. Chawla and Kumar added 44 off 30 deliveries to keep UP alive before Sakure’s strike off successive deliveries proved to be decisive.Eklavya Dwivedi (33) was the only other batsman to come up with a contribution of note. Earlier in the game, MP overcame a batting wobble of their own to post 161 for 9.They were 69 for 4 when Naman Ojha was dismissed for 37. Sohraab Dhaliwal struck four fours and four sixes in his 25-ball 51 to give the innings momentum. Ankit Rajpoot was the pick of UP’s bowlers, with figures of 4 for 29. The loss was UP’s third in four matches.

In a top-of-the-table, rain-affected clash, Titans secured their place in the final with a narrow win over Warriors, who will host Lions in the qualifier. The match was reduced to five overs a side and Titans prevailed thanks to Farhaan Behardien’s 55 not out off 15 balls – including a fifty from 14, the fastest in the competition’s history.Titans lost their openers Jonathan Vandiar and Heino Kuhn in the first seven balls but Behardien stole the show after that. He struck four fours and five sixes in an explosive knock, during which no bowler was spared. Jon-Jon Smuts’ solitary over cost 24, Sisanda Magala’s 27 and Kyle Abbott – playing his first game for his new franchise – was hit for 18. Behardien’s 50 came off 14 balls and he put on 73 runs for the third wicket with Heinrich Klaasen – who scored 17 off nine balls – to take Titans to a competitive five-over total.Warriors appeared up for it in the reply and racked up 19 runs off the first over and 29 off the first ten balls. Smuts was dismissed after that but Colin Ingram and Christiaan Jonker kept up with the rate. Warriors were 53 for 1 after thee overs, needing 28 off the last two.David Wiese conceded no boundaries in his over and dismissed Ingram to leave Warriors needing 22 of the final over. Malusi Siboto conceded just five runs off the first four balls to put the game beyond Warriors and Jonker’s 10 runs off the last two balls were in vain.File photo – Wayne Parnell’s effort went in vain•AFP

Lions booked their spot in Tuesday’s qualifier with a slender victory over Cobras – bolstered by the return of several international batsmen – on a scorching afternoon in Paarl. Legspinner Eddie Leie’s four wicket haul was crucial in the Lions’ defence of 139.Asked to bat first, Lions started well after openers Rassie van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks put on 45 inside six overs. The loss of Hendricks and Dwaine Pretorius in successive overs pegged Lions back, but a 61-run third-wicket stand between van der Dussen, who scored the innings’ only half-century, and Mangaliso Mosehle, set Lions up well at 109 for 3 in the 14th over.But Wayne Parnell and Tshepo Moreki carved their way through Lions’ middle-order and took 6 for 48 between them to leave Lions with a below-par total of 139 for 8. Of the Lions’ last six batsmen to visit the crease, only Temba Bavuma managed double figures.Cobras would have been confident of chasing down the total, especially with Hashim Amla and JP Duminy back in their XI, but they were the first two batsmen to be dismissed – Amla for 15 and Duminy for 3, both falling to Dwaine Pretorius – to leave Cobras needing contributions from their domestic regulars.Richard Levi stood man alone for the first half of the reply and plundered 41 runs off 33 balls but the rest were outspun by Leie and Bjorn Fortuin – they lost their last seven wickets for 47 runs and only Kieron Pollards’ run-a-ball 18 looked like it could do any damage.The win put Lions one point ahead of the Cobras and put them through to the qualifiers, where they will face Warriors on Tuesday, with the winner taking on Titans in Friday’s final.In a fixture that had no bearing on the playoffs, Knights secured their third-win of a disappointing campaign as they finished the season at the bottom. They beat the Dolphins, who won the same number of matches and ended above them by a point.Dolphins’ innings did not get going until the final over, in a game reduced to eight overs a side. They were 38 for 5 after seven overs with all of Cameron Delport, Morne van Wyk, Kevin Pietersen, Robbie Frylinck and Keshav Maharaj dismissed in single figures. Khaya Zondo hit three sixes in four balls off Corne Dry in the last over to give Dolphins something to defend.After two overs, they would have known it was not enough. Knights were 29 for 1 at the end of the second over, with David Miller and Patrick Kruger in no mood to hang around. Imran Tahir bowled a boundary-free third over but the Knights were in control after that and reached the total with two overs to spare.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKyle Abbott started the damage on day four•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Take a bow, Kyle Abbott. Take a bow, Kagiso Rabada. Take a bow, Faf du Plessis and the entire South Africa squad. A month ago, this team arrived in Australia without its captain and best batsman, AB de Villiers, who is at home injured. They lost their best bowler, Dale Steyn, to a serious injury barely a day into the campaign. And yet they have not only beaten Australia in the series, they have crushed them. Humiliated them.When this series schedule was announced, South Africa were worried that it might be decided by a pink-ball, day-night Test in Adelaide. They need not have feared. In Hobart, they have destroyed Australia by an innings and 80 runs to follow their hefty victory in Perth, and thus have secured a third consecutive series win in Australia. This was a total annihilation, Australia failing even to take the Test to lunch on day four – with a whole day having been lost to rain.Australia faced only 558 deliveries in this Test, their fourth-lowest tally in a home Test loss, and their lowest since Don Bradman’s debut match in 1928. In the first innings they collapsed for 85; at stumps on day three it seemed like they might have found some fight, having reached 2 for 121. But they were about to fold again. From the moment Usman Khawaja edged Abbott behind for 64, Australia lost 8 for 32 in less than 20 overs.Australia have now lost their past five Tests and their past five ODIs. There will be recriminations and there will be consequences. It was hard to imagine Australia slipping further after the Perth Test, but when they travelled to Hobart they were in every way heading south. There are nine days until the Adelaide Test, and Australia will need every one of them. It is entirely possible significant changes will have been made by the next Test.On the fourth morning, Australia’s batsmen were completely unable to handle the swing, seam and bounce of Abbott and Rabada. In the first innings it was Vernon Philander who claimed a five-wicket haul, but in the second Abbott collected 6 for 77 and Rabada took 4 for 34. The fast bowlers have all stepped up in the most magnificent way since Steyn left the field in Perth with a serious shoulder injury.They bowled so tightly on day four that Australia added only 40 to their overnight total in 24.1 overs. Philander might not have taken a wicket, but the pressure he built should not be underestimated. Philander bowled 30 dot balls on the fourth morning before Australia finally got a run off him. Steven Smith took 40 minutes to score his first runs of the day. When the wickets started to come, with Khawaja the first to go on 64, they came quickly.Adam Voges was next, and it is now difficult to imagine him retaining his place for the Adelaide Test. In his past five Tests – against Sri Lanka and South Africa – he has averaged 14.8. In the five before that – against West Indies and New Zealand – he averaged 342. Forget chocolates to boiled lollies, he has gone from chocolates to Brussels sprouts. Here, a confused attempted leave lobbed off his gloves to slip off Abbott.The debutant Callum Ferguson also fell trying to leave the ball. In his case, it was a lack of bounce that caused the problem, as he tried to sway under what he thought was a Rabada bouncer, but which stayed lower, clipped his gloves and flew away to slip. Ferguson had made 1, and it was a miserable way to end his first Test, having been run out by a direct hit in the first innings for 3.If a lack of bounce did for Ferguson, Peter Nevill was brought undone by extra bounce, caught at slip when he fended a fierce Rabada bouncer on 6. Two balls later Rabada had Joe Mennie lbw for a duck, and any hope of late Australian resistance disappeared when Smith fell for 31 in Rabada’s next over, caught behind to a ball that moved away just slightly.Then it was just a matter of time. Mitchell Starc edged behind off Abbott and the result was confirmed when Nathan Lyon lobbed a catch to mid-on to give Abbott a six-wicket haul, and nine for the match. Australia had lost inside seven sessions of play, and South Africa had their third straight series win in Australia. And given their changing team, it is hard to imagine any has been sweeter than this.