Marques Ackerman got a nostril-grazer from Mitchell Starc and couldn't help but have a sniff.
Starc sent the second ball of the second over of his second spell down snarling, a sharp bouncer that followed the batter. Ackerman wanted to ramp, then tried to pull away and ended up edging it onto his helmet on its way to Cameron Green at slip.
He took the full 15 seconds before deciding to review, only to learn it was too late. Happily replays showed that bat had made contact with ball, so even though South Africa lost Ackerman, they didn't lose the review. And that was the only batter who was dismissed by a ball worthy of his name.
The others were victims of their own shot selection, a combination of a take-the-fight-to-them and give-up-the-fight-before-you've-even-got-going approach. Aiden Markram middled a drive to the only fielder in front of square on the off-side, Travis Head, and Temba Bavuma, with seven balls remaining in the day, swiped across the line to a full Nathan Lyon delivery and was bowled. It's the third time in four innings the South African captain has been dismissed by offspin, which is something for them to think about ahead of future contests, but other technical concerns are more immediate. Sandwiched between those was David Bedingham, who top-edged a pull off Josh Hazlewood to deep square leg to be dismissed off a short ball for the second time in the match.
Add Ackerman's wicket and, in total, South Africa have lost 16 of their 43 wickets in the series so far to short balls. For a batting line-up that prides itself on their ability to face quicks, South Africa's have been undone by the best in the world. Australia's three-pronged attack of Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins allow no let-up. The cauldron they create has proved too much in parts of each match and underlined the trio's status as the most lethal in the global game.
"I mean this in the most respectful manner as possible but pressure is a funny thing," Simon Harmer, South Africa's offspinner, said at the end of day three. "Sometimes it is easy to sit on the balcony or in the stands and pass judgment on some of these innings, or how they get out or how they play a shot. But there's a lot going through your head when you're waiting to face a bowler and sometimes you make the incorrect decision at the wrong moment."
While Harmer himself has not been dismissed by a short ball in this series, he empathised with his team-mates who have and tried to explain exactly how difficult it has been for them.
"There have been chats about the short ball, how we want to play it, how we want to go about our business," he said. "But I think it's like everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. Once you step into a war-zone, it's a completely different story. There's a lot of things going on at that moment in time. It is a split-second decision. Sometimes you make the wrong decision and you pay the price. That's probably the most difficult thing about being a batter, you make one mistake, and that's the end of your day."
Bedingham has now experienced that three times. In his five innings in this series, he has scores of 49, 46, 0, 50 and 11, which suggests he has got enough starts but has not been able to convert. In Durban, Bedingham was camped on the back foot and edged a Cummins short ball that kept climbing to second slip, then here at Newlands, he top-edged a pull in both innings which may suggest anything from impatience to anxiety to get the game moving. Whichever it is, it has not helped his long-term cause.
In 18 Tests, Bedingham is 16 short of 1,000 runs and has not scored a century since his breakthrough 110 against New Zealand in February 2024. Since then, he has also been dropped from the Test side, after a run of 12 innings without a fifty between November 2024 and June 2025. He was used in a two-Test series against Zimbabwe but left out of South Africa's tours to the subcontinent late last year.
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He was brought back on the back of a fine season for Durham, in which he was the fourth-highest run-scorer in Division Two of the County Championship, with over 1000 runs, followed by twin hundreds in the second round of the first-class competition in South Africa. Bedingham batted at No.3 in the last of those and was asked to do the same in this series but the results have not flattered him.
With Tony de Zorzi close to returning to fitness after a hamstring injury, Bedingham could find himself in the firing line, but Harmer has urged a little bit of compassion. "I'm sure guys would have preferred to have not got out in certain ways but ultimately it boils down to a lot more factors than something as simplistic as a shot selection," he said.
As for that short ball, a question on the other side of the coin could be why South Africa's attack have not shown the same menace as Australia's, especially in this match. "There's been a lot of media attention about how we bowled yesterday (day two)," Harmer said. South Africa were without Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen for large parts of the second day as they battled stomach cramps and back stiffness respectively and Harmer believes they did their best. "The reason that we got the wickets this morning was because of the investment put in yesterday. I don't think it was as bad as people make it out to be."
Then there is also that conditions, especially in Gqeberha, demanded a slightly fuller length and that spin could come into it at Newlands. For now, Australia has showed, there's still no substitute for short and nasty.