Australia have fallen victim to the rare instance of losing a Test series by 3-1 despite having a 1-0 lead. After a 322-run defeat at Newlands, the hapless Aussies crumbled to the fourth heaviest Test defeat when the Proteas clinched a 492-run victory over them in the fourth Test of the series at Johannesburg.

Australia were never in the competition against the clinical opponents following the exit of their disgraced trio from the team. Their batting lineup appeared to be a frail one whenever the Proteas unleashed their wrath on them.

South Africa, after 48 years and for the first time since their readmission to cricket, have enjoyed a home Test-series win against the Aussies as the Baggy Greens could not manage to mount a comeback in the series.

After Morkel and Maharaj made the Australian score line 88/3 on Monday, Vernon Philander didn’t only join the hunt but did the rest of the toil alone to restrict the visitors to a puny total of 119 runs.

It did not take the Proteas to bowl more than just a hundred deliveries on day-5 to pick up the rest of the wickets. Philander bagged six wickets and resumed the day’s play with a scalp as he removed Shaun Marsh before the batsman could add any runs to the total.

Following Marsh’s exit, the rest of the batsmen could not stand firm and kept returning to the pavilion one after another. Except for Nathan Lyon, who fell victim to a runout, every other batsman got a taste of Philander’s rage as two of them were out for a duck and the rest, couldn’t reach the double-digits score.

Peter Handscomb, who finished the previous day’s game on his score of 24, also left the pitch without scoring any further run. The newly appointed Aussie skipper was out bowled.

Australia posted 31 more runs on the scoreboard and lost 7 wickets in return on the fifth day. In response to South Africa’s scores of 448 and 344, the Kangaroos totaled 340 runs in two innings.

Francois du Plessis became the first South Africa captain to have won a Test series in Australia in both home & away conditions. Morne Morkel put an end to his international career with a historic win. The Proteas paceman has 309 Test wickets to his name, including the four wickets that he has taken in this clash.

With a remarkable career and over 550 international wickets under his belt, Morkel completed his last day as an international player by thanking all who have been beside him for a twelve-year-long period.

“Thank you so much, the last couple of weeks have been exceptional. I have had twelve years of support and tears. I can only be the man I am because of this fantastic culture and environment. A huge thank you to all the sponsors and to Supersport for all that they've done for me,” said the seamer.