CAPE TOWN – South Africa are fast earning a reputation as the team that makes the “impossible very possible”.
For large parts of this second Test in Wellington it was the visitors who were doing the chasing. But once Faf du Plessis’s team had absorbed the body blows, launched a counter-attack, and ultimately pushed ahead there was simply no stopping the marauding Proteas.
"It's happened a few times this season where we've been in impossible situations and then there's one or two guys putting their hand up and making the impossible very possible," Du Plessis said of the eight-wicket victory over New Zealand with two days to spare at the Basin Reserve.
"Lunch time yesterday felt like not too long ago and now we've won a Test match so just that shift in pressure was really well handled."
Batsmen Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma were the architects of the riposte on Friday afternoon with a 160-run stand for the seventh wicket after a top-order collapse saw the Proteas slump to 94/6.
Lesser teams would have folded under the pressure, but like Du Plessis said there’s always someone willing to take on the responsibility of leading the recovery.
"We've found this ability to have a lot of faith in our batting line-up, whoever they are, to stand up to pressure situations. Quinton and Temba hadn't been in massive run-spells these last couple of games, so for both of them to do it at a critical time says a lot about them mentally," the skipper explained. "And it was the way they played [that was impressive].
To counter-punch and put the pressure on the opposition was remarkable."
It was not only the opposition South Africa had to contend with in Wellington. After an uncharacteristic sunlit opening day at the Basin Reserve on Thursday, the conditions deteriorated rapidly over the course of this Test match.
Two days on and the mercury levels had dropped significantly andWellington’s notorious icy winds had returned. Visuals of the Proteas support staff wrapped up in their winter woollies provided evidence that taking the 10 New Zealand wickets required for victory and an all-important 1-0 lead in the series was not only going to be a test of skill, but also character and resolve.
Hashim Amla and JP Duminy walk off after their team defeated New Zealand by 8 wickets. Photo: Ross Setford/SNPA via AP
"It was a challenge for us. What we asked for this morning was real hard cricketers. Mentally we needed to be very strong, to be ready to be challenged and pushed to extremes because it's not conditions we are used to. There were no excuses; the wind and the cold were never going to be excuses. Just real, hard Test cricket and that's what they produced."
It is not only with the bat though that South Africa are unearthing the most unlikely of heroes.
JP Duminy’s off-spin surprised the Black Caps in their first innings. On Saturday it was the turn of specialist left-armer Keshav Maharaj to trigger a fateful collapse that saw Kane Williamson’s team lose their last five second innings wickets for just 16 runs.
In conditions Williamson thought to have been “more suited to the seam bowlers” Maharaj’s career-best figures of 6/40 – his second consecutive five-for – are even more impressive.
Quentin de Kock, left, stumps New Zealand's Jeet Raval for 80. Photo: Ross Setford/SNPA via AP
"It is surprising given the conditions – cold and not a lot of spin," Du Plessis said. "But I thought both spinners bowled incredibly well. Their control and consistency meant the New Zealand batsmen just couldn't get away. Their run rates were very low. The pressure that created chances for wickets. When spinners are contributing like that, it makes the seamers' lives much easier, especially with us having to rotate the seamers quite often because we only have three."
Maharaj has 13 wickets in the series at 13.92 and heads to Hamilton where the Proteas expect a “dustbowl” filled with confidence. In a team blessed with talented fast bowlers like Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada it is a situation nobody would have expected prior to departure for the Land of the Long White Cloud.
But like this Proteas team has shown on numerous occasions this past summer nothing is impossible.