I'm glad I don't have to face KG in the middle - Elgar

Kagiso Rabada claimed 11 wickets at an average of 11 in the two test matches against the West Indies to help complete a clean-sweep with victories by an innings and 63 runs and 158 runs and yet he was, understandably, overlooked for the man-of-the-series award in favour of his great friend Quinton de Kock who produced a career-best unbeaten 141 in the first test and 96 in the second, both of which massively shaped the results in bowler-friendly conditions.

“KG is a world beater and is going to be world class for many years to come,” said captain Dean Elgar. “It's kind of what we expect from him. He speaks for himself from a performance point of view, but KG wants to win. He puts his own performances aside which is great to have characters like that – like I said, that's what KG does, wins matches.”

Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje also returned remarkable figures for the series, a fact that Elgar was keen to acknowledge: “They were also brilliant. It's great having those three in our attack and, as an opening batter, I'm just glad I don't have to face them too much. I have to face them in the nets, which is enough. Massive credit to all three of them.”

Maharaj hat-trick

Keshav Maharaj will be remembered for decades for claiming just the second hat-trick in SA test history and yet, despite that and a match haul of 7-73, he was not the man-of-the-match. Not that it bothered him in the least. The hat-trick was all that most people wanted to hear about:

“Kieran Powell was batting and looking to come at me a bit, so I just told myself to put the ball in the right area, and there it was, caught on the boundary. The second one to Jason Holder, I just tried to bowl what I've been bowling throughout to him, and fortunately I got the inside edge. And then the hat-trick ball, I had so many things going through my head as to where to bowl, so I just bowled normally and Joshua followed it down the leg side! All credit to Wiaan (Mulder) for a brilliant catch at leg slip,” Maharaj said.

“There's going to be a lot of reflection, a lot of positives to be taken out of the series. Obviously there's a few things we can reflect on, and work on, because we want to head in a certain direction. It’s very positive but there’s always room for improvement,” Maharaj said.

“Everyone was determined to make a success of this,” Rabada said. “Everyone just had the hunger to want to get back on top. So you could see by the performances, everyone has performed and everyone just wants to put their hand up,” Rabada said.

Including his new-found success with the bat? 21 not out in the first innings and crucial, career-best 40 in the second innings.

“Well, my job is to bowl. But whenever we need some lower-order runs, I always try to put my hand up. We were in a bit of spot of bother there. But that's what happens in test cricket, you get tested, and it's up to us as players to respond and make sure that we put our team in a good position. So that's what we tried to do,” Rabada said.