South Africa thumped Australia with an innings and 31-run win in the second Test of the ongoing three-match Test series at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Thursday, October 22.
Delving into the details of the game, South Africa posted 425/9 in 127.1 overs after suffering a major collapse initially in the first innings. Temba Bavuma (179), Marco Jansen (85) and Simon Harmer (82) were the top batters.
In response, Australia got bundled out for 99 in 42.3 overs. Marco Jansen was the wrecker-in-chief with a five-wicket haul. Following on, Australia got all out for 295 in 107.1 overs. Travis Head (121) was the top scorer, but his knock wasn’t enough. Kagiso Rabada scalped a four-wicket haul.
Temba Bavuma, South African captain and player of the match:
[On his ton] Yeah, I mean, like I said, definitely there at the top is one of my best. I think we saw throughout the days that batting was quite difficult, especially against the new ball. So I think to be able to perform like that, to be able to get the team in a very competitive position, I take a lot of pride in that. But also to make a play in us, you know, having a chance within the series. So, yeah, I think lots I can speak to it. A lot of confidence I’ll take from it. A big part of me is still in the moment. We still have a job at hand with another match still to go. So, once that is gone, I’ll kind of allow myself to swim in all of that.
[On individual performances] Makes the job a lot easier. A guy like KG, just his value that he brings in, his ability to assume the responsibility and pressure from the bowling attack and kind of allow the other guys to do what they naturally can do. You saw a guy like Marco Jansen, first innings, coming through with his class. I mean, even in the second innings as well. He’s of massive value.
[How do you not get ahead of yourself on the day too?] I think it’s just basically to try to stay in the moment, right? Like, I think when we were batting, for me, it was all about how we can extend it, how we can go another hour, another hour becomes a session, how we can make sure we keep them on their feet, because we know how that does have an effect. And then once the opportunity is there, where we’ve been calling on us to be a lot more ruthless, is to take that. And I think in the second innings, that’s exactly what we did. So, I think that’s how we’ve been playing our cricket. I think our team, the way we go about it, we play good old Test cricket, you know, try and wear the opposition down and then take them down when the opportunity presents itself.
