Sarel Erwee, Heinrich Klaasen and Temba Bavuma played out the final session on Day 5 in Sydney to secure a draw and keep South Africa's hopes of making the WTC final alive. Australia went into the final day in search of 14 South African wickets to complete a series sweep, but were knocked back by strong stonewalling from South Africa's eighth-wicket pair of Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer in the first innings, who sowed the seeds of the final result.

A fiery Pat Cummins spell on Day 4 filled the home team with the hopes of a final day heist against a brittle South African batting line-up. They entered a bright and sunny Day 5 with vigour, only to be blunted by two frustrating stands. First, the two overnight batters Simon Harmer and Marco Jansen played out 14.3 overs. They didn't get the scoreboard moving by much, but crucially ate into the overs left at Australia's disposal. Travis Head eventually made the incision with Jansen's wicket but that didn't lead to more and immediate dividends. Instead, Maharaj joined Harmer to take South Africa's grit to another level, and while doing so he scored at a quick pace.

Maharaj got a fifty and added 85 runs with Harmer for the eighth wicket, but the narrative was flipped quickly in the post-Lunch session. Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon wrapped up South Africa's innings and Cummins enforced follow-on. When they broke for Tea break, Dean Elgar had already been dismissed in the second innings - once again being strangled down the leg side and forced to edge to the keeper, reigniting Australia's hopes of a final session sprint. But that was not to be.

Lyon's frustration in the final session mirrored Australia's. Twice he thought he had Heinrich Klaasen gone, only for the umpire's call to rescue the South African batter by a whisker. First, an lbw call looked absolutely plumb as Klaasen was hit on the pad while stuck inside the crease on the backfoot. The on-field umpire turned down the appeal, forcing Australia to take the review. Much to their dismay, the TV umpire couldn't overturn it as the impact of the ball hitting the pad was umpire's call.

In the same over, Klaasen nicked one to slip where Steve Smith took a low catch. Or so he and Australia thought, until the TV umpire flipped it around. The on-field umpire sent it for a check with a soft signal of out, but with the few angles available to check the replay, the TV umpire ruled it not out with the explanation that Smith's fingers under the ball were split and it seemed like the ball had touched the ground. It was a big call as the replays needed to be conclusive for the TV umpire to turn it around, but like he did on two previous occasions in this fixture, he ruled in the batter's favour. A distraught Lyon could only shake his head in dejection. Hazlewood then cleaned up Klaasen with a good length delivery that moved in towards the right-hander and sneaked in through the bat-pad gap.

Faint hopes of pulling off a miraculous win still existed for Australia, only to be completely extinguished by Erwee, who batted 125 balls for his unbeaten 42 and Bavuma, who faced 42 for 17. The pair batted for 15 overs before Cummins decided to shake hands with the opposition and settle for a draw with five overs remaining in the day.

Brief Scores: South Africa 106/2 (f/o) (Sarel Erwee 42*, Heinrich Klaasen 35; Josh Hazlewood 1-9) & 255 (Keshav Maharaj 53, Simon Harmer 47; Josh Hazlewood 4-48, Pat Cummins 3-60) drew with Australia 475/4 decl. (Usman Khawaja 195*, Steve Smith 104; Anrich Nortje 2-55).