The Proteas are on the brink of victory thanks Kyle Verreynne’s maiden Test century but it was Kagiso Rabada stole the show after lunch at the Hagley Oval. IOL Sport’s Stuart Hess looks at the highlights of day four.
SHOTS - Kyle Verreynne was undoubtedly the star with the bat for SA, but Kagiso Rabada’s post lunch assault was breathtaking. Four sixes of varying distances flew over the boundary - one went to the top of the grass bank over midwicket. It was an incredible knock, a Test best for Rabada of 47 off 34 balls, with fours sixes and the same number of fours
CATCH - Will Young produced a foolish celebration infront of an empty section of the embankment after a quite ridiculous, circus grab to end Marco Jansen’s innings. Sprinting towards the midwicket boundary he threw his left hand in the ball’s path, had it stick, put in a dive, rolled on his back with his legs akimbo and arms outstretched began a celebration. Luckily his teammates - in a state of bemused laughter - reached him quickly.
BALL - Keshav ‘Keshie/Kesh/Sharks’ Maharaj, got one to spin from the line of middle stump, passed the outside edge of Daryl Mitchell’s bat and had the ball smacking into off-stump. It was a gem of a delivery, and besides being a tribute to his skill, was also a tick to the selectors and skipper Dean Elgar for picking him at a venue that historically doesn’t help spinners.
9.80 - Tom Latham’s average against the Proteas in 10 innings. His overall Test average is 42.46. In this series his highest score is 15.
4 – An absolute gem, courtesy of Cricinfo. New Zealand openers Latham and Young collectively scored four runs in this match, the joint-fewest by a team's openers in a Test match.
DAY 5
This Test is only the third one out of 10 at Hagley Oval to reach the fifth day.
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