South Africa are the comeback kings. After losing the first test by an innings and 276 runs 10 days ago, they bounced back to crush New Zealand by 198 runs shortly after tea on the final day of the second and final test at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Tuesday.
South Africa’s outstanding achievement comes on the back of their 2-1 series triumph over India earlier this summer after suffering a comprehensive defeat in the first test. The drawn series means that the Proteas have maintained their record of never having lost a test series against the Black Caps.
Victory looked assured when four wickets fell quickly in the afternoon following the key dismissal of Devon Conway, leg before to Lutho Sipamla, shortly before lunch. But the New Zealand weather, which had behaved itself throughout the series, then briefly intervened to shred South African nerves.
With gritty tailenders Matt Henry and Neil Wagner battling it out in a partnership of seven in 41 balls, rain began falling and the umpires called the players off for an early tea. By this stage, the light had become gloomy and the floodlights had been switched on.
The rain relented during the break, however, and the players returned. Kagiso Rabada completed his over and then left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj put the South Africans out of their misery by trapping Henry plumb leg before with his fifth ball. The decision was reviewed, and the South Africans roared with relief and delight when it was confirmed by the replay.
Maharaj, an inspired selection, finished with 3/75 off 31.5 overs with Rabada and Jansen also claiming three wickets apiece with the former taking eight in the match. Sipamla may have got the most important scalp, however, in his 1/29.
South Africa’s captain, Dean Elgar, said although he was proud of his players for bouncing back from an innings defeat, he hoped his young team learned to start series better.
Reflecting on his team’s triumph, Elgar said it was important to recognise both the positives and what still needed to be done.
“I would love to be one-nil up at the start of a series rather than 1-0 down,” he said regarding the early loss of a test before beating India 2-1 and well as the heavy defeat in Christchurch 10 days ago.
“We’ve got a young, exciting group but the emphasis is on young and inexperienced. There’s no lack of talent in our pool and we’ve got to stick with what we have and continue to work hard. We’ll get there but it’s going to take time. It’s a positive that we’re winning or levelling series after we’ve been behind and I hope the players realise that. But we need to work harder in starting series – it’ll make us much better as a unit going forward.”
VULNERABILITY
Earlier, resuming on New Zealand’s overnight total of 94 for four, Conway and partner Tom Blundell comfortably negotiated the early stages of the final morning’s play.
With the pitch still playing well and the ball more than 40 overs old, the two Kiwis were able to repel the initial assault by Rabada and Jansen in the first hour with both batsmen looking to be positive when they could with Blundell initially dominating the strike and keeping the scoreboard moving.
The game of chess took on an added dimension after drinks when Maharaj was introduced in what was seen as a key battle. Conway chose to confront the left-arm spinner by sweeping and reverse-sweeping, largely successfully, although he survived a close leg-before call after he missed a reverse-sweep, with the review showing the ball just clearing his middle-stump.
If that moment revealed a certain vulnerability in the mindset of the left-hander, it was Sipamla who immediately cashed in with the first ball of his second over. Getting some movement through the air, he swung a full, almost yorker-length delivery into the pads of Conway who was unable to dig out the delivery. The decision was out and remained so after Conway’s review with the ball shown to be striking his leg stump. The left-hander struck 13 fours, many of them pulls and sweeps, in his 188-ball innings. He and Blundell had added 85 in 174 balls for the fifth wicket.
Sipamla, who had bowled a good spell the evening before, conceding only 14 runs in 10 overs, was engulfed by his excited teammates.
Conway’s loss seemed to break the back of the Kiwi defiance, and after lunch the Proteas were able to scythe through most of the lower-order despite dropping two easy catches.
A BOLD DECISION
The main beneficiary was Jansen who quickly picked up the next three wickets with Mitchell (44 in 109 balls, 7x4s) chipping tamely to Temba Bavuma at midwicket, Colin de Grandhomme hooking firmly to Wiaan Mulder at deep backward short leg and Kyle Jamieson slogging a short-pitched delivery to Rabada at midwicket.
Rabada then returned to clean up Tim Southee but Wagner and Henry proved a little more difficult to dislodge.
Asked to comment on his (to many) surprising decision to bat first in this match after winning the toss, Elgar agreed it was a “bold decision”. “It was one we had to take as a unit, and luckily it paid off for us. It was something that might have backfired on us and I would have been made to look an idiot but I’m one of those guys who live by the decisions I make for the side.”
He described the victory as one of the big ones in his career “in the context of playing away from home, 1-0 down and being beaten in two and a half days and then bouncing back like we’ve done now. We’ve shown in the past that we’ve got a lot of characters in the unit and we needed characters to make a stand here and rise up to level the series.”
He said South Africa’s basics “went out of the window” in the first test, and I think we needed to nail that down. We needed to score runs first up, always massive in test cricket irrespective of what the conditions are.”
Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was made man of the match for his haul of eight wickets (5/60 and 3/46) as well as his explosive 47 in 34 balls in the South African second innings. New Zealand’s Matt Henry was made man of the series for his 14 wickets at an average of 16 as well as a half-century in the first test.
Report Day 1Report Day 2Report Day 3Report Day 4
NEW ZEALAND: Tom Latham (capt), Will Young, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Matt Henry
SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lutho Sipamla