South Africa vs Australia 2018, 2nd Test, day 4: 5 things we learnt from the day

Kagiso Rabada ran havoc yet again as Australia perished after a not so worthy lead of 100 on day 4 at Port Elizabeth. Aided by another AB de Villiers fest, South Africa chased down the target without breaking much of a sweat and levelled the four-match series.

The day started with Rabada sending Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc back to complete a six-wicket haul and although Tim Paine and Josh Hazlewood hung around to take the lead to 100, it was never going to be enough.

Hazlewood then injected some venom into the Aussies by grabbing Aiden Markram's wicket after Lyon had Elgar caught and bowled. Since then it was the De Villiers show yet again, although he got out just before they aced the chase, as the Proteas romped home to a terrific win.

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#5 Kagiso Rabada seeks revenge

Rabada tore through Australia on day 4 to tilt the game fully in South Africa's direction

Kagiso Rabada steamed in and had the Aussies on all fours with yet another screaming spell of fast bowling. The 22-year-old was in stunning rhythm and sent Mitchell Marsh's stumps cartwheeling to begin proceedings on day 4.

It wasn't long before Pat Cummins departed to another edge and Rabada was celebrating a 10 wicket haul in the match. He wasn't done though and handpicked the sole man capable of building a lead of the Aussies from there on - Mitchell Starc. The counter-attacking tail-ender was given a taste of his own medicine - reverse swing - and edged behind cheaply as Rabada finished with 11 wickets in the match.

#4 Lungi Ngidi puts his hand up

Cheerful as always, Ngidi did enough to retain his place in the side

Morne Morkel's exclusion ahead of the second Test was viewed with sceptic eyes but Lungisani Ngidi turned up and hit the ground running with a terrific display of fast bowling. He had contributed to Australia's failings in the first innings, cleaning up David Warner and then bowling immaculate lines to finish with a three-wicket haul.

Ngidi still needed a confidence boost before the third Test and went on to pick up Cameron Bancroft and later, Nathan Lyon, to finish with five in the match. With Rabada suspended for rest of the series, Ngidi might be persisted with at Cape Town after giving a pretty good account of himself.

#3 Australia's tail doesn't wag

Mitchell Starc had been a formidable presence in Australia's lower order

The difference between the two sides after the first Test at Durban was the lacklustre show from South Africa's lower order and the equally spectacular show from the Aussie counterparts. While just 27 runs were made by South Africa's tail across two innings', Australia's contributed to 166 runs.

Here at Port Elizabeth, though, the tables were reversed. Rabada was too hot to handle for Australia's tail while the two partnerships of De Villiers-Philander and De Villiers-Maharaj piled the agony on Australia with a gritty display from lower down the order. South Africa's last five contributed to 203 runs in one innings here at Port Elizabeth.

#2 Tim Paine knows a thing or two about batting with the tail

Paine fulfilled his part pretty well

Despite Australia's horror Test, one man will walk back knowing that he did his best to avert the inevitable - Tim Paine. Since making a return to the Test side, Paine has been amongst the least discussed Australian player in spite of his tidy showing behind and in front of the stumps.

He is adept at playing with the tail and has a cool, calm demeanour when it comes to marshalling the lower order. Even as Kagiso Rabada breathed fire, Paine battled out 118 balls across two innings. He was the last man out in the first innings, cleaned up by Ngidi, and remained unbeaten in the second.

#1 South Africa ease through in the run chase

AB de Villiers was once again at his flamboyant best

With a meagre 101 to chase down, South Africa started off by losing Dean Elgar to Nathan Lyon and Aiden Markram to Josh Hazlewood. But with Hashim Amla breathing confidence, the entry of AB de Villiers was all it needed to seal the contest. He charged in to smash four fours and a six in three overs and raced to 25 in 16 balls as Australia looked on in despair.

Amla and De Villiers were positive, fluent and batted with the freedom of playing club cricket. Despite the Aussies bowling some tight lines early on, De Villiers' onslaught meant that yet again the visitors were hunting leather under the hot sun. Although Amla and De Villiers departed before the target was aced, it held little more than statistical importance.