HOBART: Captain Faf du Plessis says his Proteas team will “remember forever” the history-making series victory over Australia on Tuesday.
South Africa crushed Australia by an innings and 80 runs on the fourth morning of this second Test to seal the three-match series 2-0 with the Proteas’ inaugural day-night still Test to come in Adelaide next week.
No visiting team has achieved the distinction of beating the Aussies on home soil in three consecutive series since the legendary West Indies sides of the 1980s and early 1990s. South Africa only won here in 2008 for the first time under the leadership of Graeme Smith and followed it up in 2012 before this latest triumph.
“We watched on TV for so many years how hard it was for South Africa to come here and do well. The younger guys watching at home can now know it’s possible to come here and, to an extent, dominate an Australian team which gives us as a country a lot of confidence when we travel,” Du Plessis said.
“It’s extremely special for us because we know this is something we will remember forever as a team. That’s exactly what we came here to do. We want to create memories as a team together. We’ve done it a few times now, but it’s not done yet.”
The victory was achieved through a splendid bowling performance led by Man of the Match Kyle Abbott with his match haul of 9/118 and Kagiso Rabada’s second innings 4/34. Vernon Philander also claimed 5/15 in Australia’s first innings.
The home side lost their last eight wickets for just 32 runs in an eventful morning of Test cricket.
Du Plessis praised all his bowlers’ performances, but believed the self-belief to achieve this moment in history was built up in South Africa already when the Proteas whitewashed the Aussies 5-0 in the home ODI series preceding this tour.
“We came across here with a lot of confidence. We expected a really tough challenge because it’s a different team and they are at full-strength with two key players in (Mitchell) Starc and (Josh) Hazlewood back. The confidence from coming over (with a) 5-0 (win) has helped us a lot,” Du Plessis said.
The Proteas have eight days to soak up their achievements before the final Test of the series get underway in Adelaide. It will be the first time South Africa will be playing a day-night Test with a pink ball and they will be hoping to finish off the series with another victory.
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