Cape Town - Maybe the Proteas needed this. A decision to get their backs up, infuriate them, push them to the edge.
For much of this Test series they have limped through Australia and not been up for the task, let alone the fight.
Previous encounters between these two arch-rivals have seen enthralling battles, with the players involved pushing their minds and bodies to the extreme levels to claim the advantage.
The series in South Africa was particularly enthralling when it erupted spectacularly and all lines were crossed.
But this has all been rather disappointing. The Proteas have hardly fired a shot in anger and the Aussies have steamrolled their African rivals.
On Wednesday, though, in this final Test at the SCG there was finally a moment of controversy that stirred up the emotions. Simon Harmer, who had been recalled to the Proteas Test side due to the expected favourable spinning conditions in Sydney, believed he had completed a routine catch off a Marnus Labuschagne outside edge.
Marco Jansen was the bowler and duly celebrated Labuschagne’s dismissal when on-field umpire Paul Reiffel raised his finger to issue the soft-signal.
However, upon reviewing the television umpire Richard Kettleborough overturned the on-field decision to offer Labuschagne a reprieve on 70.
Kettleborough’s decision undoubtedly upset the Proteas with fast bowler Anrich Nortje underlining the team’s frustration.
"All of us thought it was out. Simon was convinced that it went straight in," said Nortje at the close of a rain-interrupted first day.
"When you look at the angles, to us it looks like fingers are underneath it. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that one. I think it would have been a big wicket at that stage. We were convinced it’s out."
Nortje, though, was the senior fast bowler on the field along with Kagiso Rabada and had to keep his emotions in check while guiding the unfortunate Jansen.
"You just have to try and focus," said Nortje. "It can quickly get out of hand afterwards where you feel you’ve been hard done by. I think the main thing is to try and focus.
"And I told Marco as well to try to focus on what he was doing and to put even more effort on the basics and try to get through that phase where it drifts out of your mind.
"It can feel like you should have gotten the wicket and one or two balls go to the boundary and you lose the momentum again.
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"I thought he bowled really well at that stage, so well done to him for keeping his line and lengths up. As a fielding unit, you just want to feed off that energy and the good balls from the bowlers at that stage."
Nortje instead channelled his energies into another rip-snorting display of fast bowling that saw him eventually get the better of Labuschagne (79) with a delivery that rose sharply off a good length.
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“I wasn’t trying to be fancy, just to keep it simple and try to hit the wicket as hard as I could, try to get something out of it. It wasn’t a big set-up, it was more about trying to be consistent in that area and luckily we got some nip and bounce there,” he said.
Australia still held the advantage at 147/2 when the players left the field for the final time in the late afternoon session with Usman Khawaja undefeated on 54, but Nortje (2/26) may finally have lit the fire within the Proteas.
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