If England fans were in any doubt over the difficulty of this winter's trip to South Africa, they should be no more.

The superb Proteas completed victory on the final day of their enthralling series against Australia to reaffirm their status as the best side in the world.

The contest was packed with subplots, many of which are relevant to England for their upcoming tour and next summer's Ashes series beyond.

Australia captain Pat Cummins maintained they are still a "really good side" after the defeat.

It is undeniable they stand at an intriguing point in their development, however.

Knocked off the top of the Test rankings for the first time in two and a half years, they have an ageing bowling attack and a batting line-up caught between generations.

And for the first time in his career there is attention on Cummins himself.

One third of Australia's iconic pace trio, with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, he went more than 62 overs without a wicket between the second innings of the first Test and South Africa's second dig in the third. Only once has he finished a series with a worse bowling average than the 53.66 he returned in South Africa.

His expected wickets return of 29.6 suggests he bowled better than those figures suggest, but he has only returned a higher mark on that metric once in his past 20 series.

Of course, Cummins has plenty of credit in the bank but questions are bound to be raised given his age.

Were the 33-year-old not captain, it may have been him under pressure from Scott Boland to play in the third Test.

His call to bowl first in Cape Town also proved poor and he was helpless tactically when South Africa's openers attacked on the first morning before correcting things after lunch.

Since Joe Root returned as Test skipper, England have not picked a frontline spinner and have instead favoured a four-man pace attack of Jofra Archer, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson.

South Africa's victory in the third Test suggests they will need an alternative before long.

Off-spinner Simon Harmer, who once considered playing for England before opting for the country of his birth, took 10-120 to bowl the Proteas to victory in Cape Town - the venue of the third Test against England.

Newlands is not typically a spinner's surface but it turned big from the third day. The overall average amount of turn throughout the Test (4.35 degrees) was the fourth-highest in Cape Town on record. The Test a place ahead on the list was last year, against Pakistan.

Harmer was helped by having left-arm pace bowlers Starc and Marco Jansen creating footholes outside the right-handers' off stump throughout. Starc will not be a factor against England but Jansen will.

England's spin issues are longstanding, meaning there is no easy answer.

And whether they pick Shoaib Bashir, return to Jack Leach or Mason Crane or hand a debut to Nottinghamshire's Liam Patterson-White – the recent recipient of an England development contract - they will have stiff competition.

Since Harmer returned to Test cricket in 2022, no spinner has a better average anywhere in the world.

If England do pick a spinner, it will give them a chance to expose one weakness in South Africa's batting order. This could be needed, given the strength of South Africa's bowling attack with Harmer, Jansen and Kagiso Rabada, backed up by Wiaan Mulder.

Captain Temba Bavuma was out to off-spin in four out of his five innings against Australia. The exception, the second Test when he made an epic 179 to turn the series on its head, came when Australia left out their premier tweaker Nathan Lyon.

Up until the start of 2025, Bavuma averaged 46.85 against spin but since then his record drops to 21.37. That drops to 15.00 against off-spin and 12.16 when such bowlers are coming over the wicket.

More broadly and despite victory, South Africa's problems against the short ball were laid bare again in the third Test when seven of their wickets came when playing the hook or pull.

It is a problem that has often hampered England but West Indies and Afghanistan are the only sides averaging worse against short balls in Tests over the past four years.

Another trend to emerge from Australia's visit was the importance of lower-order runs.

In their first-Test victory, Australia added 266 runs after the sixth wicket fell in their first innings.

In the second Test, South Africa added 315 in the same period while in the second innings of the third Test they added 206 for the last five wickets - something that effectively won them the Test and series.

With the ball repeatedly getting soft as innings wore on, wicket-taking became more difficult.

Wickets fell once every 60 balls after the ball was 40 overs old in this series, compared to once every 37 balls in England's series against New Zealand earlier in the summer.

In recent years, England's lower order have attacked in an attempt to score quick runs.

This series showed the benefit of the lower order batting time, sticking around for the top-order batters and stretching out an innings.