Almost the perfect Test match, says a delighted Faf
Kevin McCallum
Supersport Park
Shortly before 5pm, as Dale Steyn started his run-up for what would be the final delivery of the Test against New Zealand, the Gautrain, which runs along the west bank of this stadium, gave out a toot as it bent along the curve towards the Centurion station.
Steyn dropped one in short to Henry Nicholls; he top edged it and it looped in an aching arc towards Kagiso Rabada at fine leg to win the first August Test match in Centurion for South Africa. It was a game decided by a fine first innings total, a score by a stand-in captain who needed runs and got 112 of them, and by a strike bowler and his colleagues hungry to show he is not yet done.
Faf du Plessis said he was rather pleased he didn’t win the toss on a pitch that should have come with a warning: ‘Here be dragons.’ Steyn would have been rather pleased he lost it.
“I’m extremely happy. It was almost the perfect Test match,” said Du Plessis. “If I could write a script to have it the way I could have it (as winning as a Test captain for the first time), that’s the way I would like to have it.
“It’s been a while since we got to feel what it was like to win a Test series.
“We always said that as a batting unit, if you bat first you get to 400-plus, you are on the front foot. There was a hell of a lot happening on that pitch on day one. We were unsure what to do at the toss. I possibly would have bowled. With our guys on that first innings pitch, they would have been a handful. The 480 we got set us up, but our bowlers in the first innings would have been a handful.
“Cooky (Stephen Cook) was solid, Quinny (De Kock) took it to them. It was important for us to put on a good total and everyone played their part.”
There was speculation as to just when South Africa would put New Zealand in to bat for their final innings. When they did, things happened at pace, and the game was all but won before lunch.
The declaration came at 11.02am after South Africa had added 27 runs in the first hour of play, New Zealand were set 400 to win. The players were ready to play at 11.13am. Tom Latham was out to Steyn at 11.14am. Martin Guptill was on his way at 11.19am. Kane Williamson was hit on the hand by Vernon Philander at 11.21am. Ross Taylor was leg before to Steyn at 11.36am, a ball that went sideways off the surface.
Williamson had a plaster protector, moulded in a rush in the change-room by his physio, placed over his finger at 11.41am. Williamson was caught behind by De Kock off Steyn at 11.42am. Lunch came at high noon and NZ were 18/4. It was no longer of what, but when.
The afternoon was hard slog, NZ toughing it out and SA not quite back in their rhythm. They needed patience and accuracy, and just before the 4.56pm train rolled into Centurion station, they had found enough of both to celebrate a win.
De Kock was named Man of the Match. His 82 in the first dig was a learning curve for him, one that he seemed to forget when he opened in the second innings. “I wasn’t meant to come out so positive, but instinct took over. In that first over I got a bit of luck against Trent (Boult), and that got me going. Dean (Elgar) can have his spot. I am happy to bat down the order at six or seven.”
South African were not happy to be at seven in the ICC Test rankings before this Test. They are now fifth, but have to wait until November before they play another Test.
It will seem like forever. - The Star