Australia rung the changes, but South Africa skipper AB de Villiers rallied with the willow as the visitors amassed 8-267 in Friday’s one-dayer at the MCG.
Needing a victory to keep the five-game series alive, de Villiers started well by opting to bat as he and George Bailey revealed four changes each at the toss.
The 30-year-old, shifted up to No.4 in South Africa’s batting order, again had to do the brunt of the work.
In the 17th over, South Africa had slumped to 3-77 with Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis all back in the changerooms.
But de Villiers did what he does best – score runs quickly with a combination of fancy footwork and terrific timing.
In the space of two hours, the world’s top-ranked one-day international batsman accumulated 91 runs off 88 balls.
De Villiers powered the Proteas to 5-230 when he finally fell to Pat Cummins at the end of the 43rd over, a rare error in judgment resulting in a regulation catch in the deep for Steve Smith.
Australia did well at the death, with 51 runs coming from the final 10 overs.
The highlight was a direct hit from David Warner at mid-off that found Farhaan Behardien short of his ground.
Cummins was one of seven bowlers used by Bailey, who was hamstrung by Nathan Coulter-Nile’s hamstring injury.
Coulter-Nile, who returned to the XI alongside Cummins, Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner, limped off after bowling the sixth over and was unable to return.
Cummins, playing his first ODI since June 2012, snaffled a fine catch to remove Amla then dismissed dangermen du Plessis and de Villiers to grab figures of 2-61.
Josh Hazlewood, leading wicket-taker in the ODI series and in contention for a call-up to the Test squad, was rested.
Mitch Marsh, Xavier Doherty and Kane Richardson were also left out of the Australian XI.
Proteas pacemen Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander, who shared the new ball at Manuka Oval, were omitted by the visitors along with injured legspinner Imran Tahir and Rilee Rossouw.
South Africa have never lost an ODI against Australia at the MCG, a perfect 6-0 record dating back to 1993.
Australia, batting second for the first time in the series, will take an unassailable 3-1 lead if they beat the Proteas in Melbourne.
