by Akseli Pitkänen
Prologue Going into the Centurion Test SA’s form guide was very alarming, 5 Test losses in a row having lossed 3-0 in India in September and and 2-0 to SL at subcontinent conditions in February. SA was on a bad overseas losing streak. Home comfort was now in store against a changeable English team. England’s form guide consisted 2 wins, 2 losses and a draw, losing and drawing in NZ and winning Australia twice in the Ashes in a drawn 5-Test series. England had found a gun in Stokes who was more than handy in the CWC half a year ago. Tour matches promised something for the English. Their batting was decent, Pope made a century and Anderson, who was off the scene after the 1st Ashes match this year, took 3-41 in the 3-day FC match. However, the English players fell under a bug disease right before the 1st match had begun. Many became ill and a couple players fielded ill later on in the match. As for South Africa, Andile Phehlukwayo took figures of 3/55 and even better, Keegan Petersen got a century batting almost 6 hours at the crease. Keegan was the substitute fielder for Markram in the 1st Test. Into the match England captain Joe Root called right and won the toss. His decision was to bowl 1st. Faf du Plessis, the SAn skipper, would’ve batted anyways. Indecision already at the toss, you could already sense an interesting match. DAY 1 It didn’t take long for the action to begin. Hard way to get things going for SA, 1st ball of the series, a wicket. That too a nick from a great Test opening warrior Dean Elgar from an absolute loosener down the leg side from James Anderson. That didn't cause too many upsets later on, only 2. Markram and Hamza got things going but an ordinary ball from Sam Curran was flicked by Aiden straight to the hands of midwicket, Jonny. Markram was just getting things going for him but well, he'll have time to think about it in a Test cricket way. Furthermore, Faf joined Hamza and they were really digging in, the Ruby of SA, Hamza was having fun. Driving through cover region, past the bowler and a few singles to the leg side. 39 off 72 looked better than it really tells on the scorecard. The 3rd wicket was a better one, a one from Broad that took the outside edge, to the safe hands of Stokes. VDD and Faf made sure no further breakthroughs were made. Eventually an even stevens opening session ends with SA on 79-3. The next hour or so post lunch will be crucial. Can SA make it to 100-3 with ease or will England pin back at them? This pitch isn't threatening so Joe Root's decision to field first might as well be questioned. The game is in balance but we do know what SA are capable & QDK can get heavy, quick runs if necessary. England must find the good balls if they are not to toil the whole day. Faf was given out but after a review he was reprieved. A little tiny murmur wasn't convincing. Now Sam Curran has got the better of RVDD with a testing ball a little outside off. Joe Root at 1st slip took the grab. Now it's interesting, QDK is used to quick runs but any runs would do good for SA. Nice to see this game even just as one might think. 97-4 after 34. Faf gone for 29 off 80. What a peach by Broady! Absolutely in the corridor, that extracted the edge and safe hands Root ain't dropping those. Brilliant fielding day so far for England. Seen dives from Anderson and now Denly. The big 5 catches that make the score 5 down have been all comfortably taken. Being it fielding or bowling Eng, have shown grit. 5 wickets to go, can England make themselves bat around tea? Or will SA start a new ploy courtesy of de Kock's quick runs? VDD and Faf tried to dig in. Both failed, the former worse. Curran bowled a decent ball to get rid of Rassie, England's joy was huge when Faf edged likewise to Root. At 111-5 innings was unfolding. But with luck and some powerful hitting QDK has made his stay at the crease look threatening. 64* off 69, 11 fours. Pretorius has made good company with 25 not out off 35, 3 fours and a six. The stay is getting an English coach's hands sweat whereas SA are living in joy as long as this innings goes the distance. Quinny has hit really good shots, he's been aggressive and has gotten away with some. 50 p'ship for QDK and Pretorius. QDK has just reached 50 off 45, 9 boundaries. SA cruising indeed. QDK could've been out trice, twice at slip and one behind the bowler but his big heaves have given him runs. QDK is getting the innings flowing and Dwaine's maximum off Joe Root at cow corner and some good shots are giving this team their worthy runs. At a RR of 3.6, this SA innings is looking at 280+. Can Quinton get a century? Will English get in the mix? How will this 76 run stand continue? TEA; 187-5 after 52 overs. After tea England came with a good bowler in Sam Curran. He got one wrapped on the pads of Pretorius which was reviewed but leg sideish. The very next ball Curran drew the edge and Root got his 3rd catch of the day at slip. Philander worked his way to a partnership with QDK. Philander has taken his time and he's building momentum as the innings goes on. De Kock was reaching a century but his fortune ended after his strokes seemed to slowly end. Right after an odd incident of Vernon holding his bat high and edging while trying to leave the ball, QDK was lured into a little fishing element outside his stumps. Curran got a little nibble on the way through to Buttler, the English wicket keeper. QDK had scored 95 off 128, been 3 hours and scored 14 boundaries. Maharaj came in and lasted 15 balls as Archer got his 1st breakthrough. Keshav edged and Stokes at 2nd slip took a good low catch. Currently Philander and Rabada are making good progress in trying to get the SAn total to something to cheer about. The second new ball is due with the score at 263/8. With the new cherry Broad got Rabada bowled with the last ball of the day. The day ended on 277-9 after 82.4 overs. That meant 7.2 overs were lost due to a slow over rate of around 12.4 overs per hour. DAY 2 Nortje did the blocking and Philander went after the ball but eventually nicks off rather quickly. 7 runs added to the total. 284 all out. Which means...England will be batting! How will they fare against the South African bowlers? We'll see in a bit… Right after the innings break, SA made Eng watch out right from ball one. Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander were to make business. 1st ball of the inns was given out but after a review, given not out. Rabada was cranking it up at 90 mph but a gentler pace in Vernon was the one to make the 1st breakthrough. Rory Burns was out for 9 off a peach by Vern. The line was an off stump line a threatening line he's used to. It clipped the bottom glove off the bounce, De Kock did the rest. Next over Dominic Sibley fended the ball off the back foot off the bowling of Rabada. Sibley started walking, the wicket an outside edge through to Qunnie once again. At this stage it was 15-2 for England. A couple overs were tense after it too. Ball after ball there was trouble for the batsmen. Rabada pinged Root on the helmet and on naught Denly edged his 25th faced ball to 1st slip only to be dropped by VDD distracted by QDK's dive. Also Philander had bowled 5 overs with 5 maidens, with a wicket conceding none. That was the highlight of the innings before lunch for SA. However, England started its counterattack against all this pressure once KG and Vern were given a rest. Pretorius and especially Nortje were pummeled for runs even as Anrich got past the 151 kph mark. Midwicket was targeted by Denly and point region for Root. England had ended on 60/2 at lunch after 21 overs. After the break Vern and KG were back. Rabada was crashed through point and covers. Philander had not tired from that sweet sound of 3rd/4th stump panic. This time it was the English captain Joe Root who found him too good. Once again De Kock took the catch gladly off a clear outside edge; 70-3. Denly continued his lovely strokes finding the fence both sides of the wicket. Philander got the rest again at 8-7-1-2, tells the story. Just now England bring the deficit below 200 as Denly charges down the track against Maharaj. England 87/3 after 28 overs. Stokes and Denly continued the fightback. Stokes hit a couple of sixes off the bowling of spinner Maharaj. Both shots were terrific whacks to the leg side grass banks. Denly was preferring the off side with cuts to 3rd man & point, down the ground past the bowler to long-off and 50 was reached with a classic, relentless cover drive. That's 50 for Joe Denly, 6th 50. 50 off 108, 9 boundaries. Although just a few balls later he was dismissed for that exact score. Pretorius had the last laugh after the SA review, Denly inside-edging through to QDK. At this stage, England were 142-4, trailing 142. All the hard work done there didn’t pay off as SA found the wicket-taking delivery every couple overs after Joe’s wicket. Superb ball from Nortje. Knocks off Jonny's off stump with a 89 mph good length ball. One wicket keeper makes way for another. Let's see how resilient Jos is...There she goes, there she goes again, lovely cover drive Jos! Anrich is learning to bowl in Test cricket! How many wicket keeper catches will QDK take? All good balls just getting the edge through. Nortje's wicket taking ball was a little wider to dismiss Stokes who gave a proper slash at it though. The wicket of Stokes was Quinton’s 5th catch of the match and SA’s 6th. Just to give some perspective, Quinton had taken 3.9 catches per match in Test cricket before the match. That catches per match ratio is on the high side too. For he was to take even more this match! Nortje kept bowling at 90+ mph consistently at a 4th, 5th stump line. With some movement off the pitch he was bound to get wickets sooner than later. It was exactly what South Africa needed...4 seamers sharing the responsibilities, took some time for Pretorius and Nortje to get amongst it but now they're threatening every now and then. Rabada bowls on leg stump, Sam Curran tries to glance it towards square leg. However, Hamza is there at short leg to grab it off a travelling ball. Eng 176-7. England would love a 50 from either Buttler or Archer. Seems as if pitch is opening up a little, creating extra bounce and an odd one to shoot through low. Catch number 6 for QDK, big healthy edge from Jos off Vernon. Again a good ball, these edges to Quinnie keep coming and coming. Really had to leap this time. Can England reach 200? 1st they need to get the deficit into double figures, a few runs away from that. Broad caught at gully by Elgar off Rabada! Beaten by extra bounce, comes in at Stuart's shoulder and he tries to defend it, pops up straight to Dean off the edge. Big Vern magic! Top of off castled, Archer with no chance. Eng all out for 181. James Anderson took a wicket 1st ball in the 1st innings as his only wicket. In the 3rd innings Anderson had Markram lbw ball number 5. This was also Anderson’s last wicket. Elgar cutting, driving and clipping to square leg off Jimmy for 3 fours in the over! SA 25-1 and a lead of 128. Hamza strangled down the leg side off Broady! Breakthrough #2. Archer gets a wicket 2nd ball! Dean Elgar inside edges one ball for a caught behind for Buttler. Faf plays the hook shot against Archer but there's a Sam Curran at deep fine leg there who is delighted to take a catch. SA are effectively at 165-4 with a nightwatchman in Nortje joining RVDD. They made it to stumps on 72-4. DAY 3 Going into the morning, England had in mind of dismissing the nightwatchman and the debutant quickly. What panned out was pretty much the opposite. P'ship kept growing and growing. There was good but dangerous running. VDD hit speechlessly amazing cover drives and Nortje kept finding the fence, with edges if necessary. Over number 34: Those 2 cover drives were so pleasing to the eye. That's RVDD for you! Leaning on it. Classic, stylish, pure, glamorous, you name it! 13 runs off the Broad over. A total of 91 runs was added between days. England bowled short, short and short. Some odd bumpers hurt Nortje but he was rather comfortable in his 40. VDD took a 50 on debut, making a 50 on debut across all three formats. England reduced with their wickets and Pretorius' to 177-7 but as SA led already then by 280, England started a downfall with tired bowlers. QDK was having fun hitting Archer for 3 maximums to the fine leg fence. Quinnie went after him and made good contact. At lunch SA was 197-7 with a lead of exactly 300. QDK fell into a shell while Vernon was hitting cracking shots, a couple cover drives in the process. QDK was a walker after he was caught behind by Jonny off Ben. Some comfort to get Quinnie out before 50, Stokes bowls a jaffa and QDK walks immediately. Match getting away from Eng, it's just a matter of England getting relief to bat and forfeit the match at least in some style. SA 220-8 with a lead of 323. Maharaj and Rabada made good resistance down the order with scores of 11 and 16 not out as Philander was left 4 shy of a 50. Archer bowled out his 5th while bowling Maharaj but he was expensive too with figures of 17-1-102-5. ENG faced a challenge of getting 376 runs in 2 and a half days to win. Burns and Sibley made it till tea at 24-0 off 5 as Rory hit 3 clever boundaries through the off side. The pair continued the fight. Burns was dropped on 20 by VDD at 1st slip. It was Rassie’s 2nd drop of the match, although a tough one yet again. Rory was not having any misery of that and kept on attacking with shots through midwicket being, 33 off 34, a run a ball. At the same time Dominic kept grinding out and was 3 off 33. The partnership grew, Sibley found the leg side fence after balls bowled on the pads. Burns hit 50 off 62 balls. He was nowhere near finished. England made its highest opening partnership for 3 years. Eventually the p’ship was broken on 92, Sibley was gone for 29. England’s Denly and Burns made it till stumps on 121-1 needing a further 255 runs to win DAY 4 Philander and Rabada had a challenge to stop the run flow and take wickets going into the 4th morning. Philander bowled 29 dot balls in a row to Burns keeping him patient. Rabada went for runs but would come back later and pick wickets. Kagiso got pulled for two maximums by Denly and was hit out of the attack. However, it was Vern’s precision that made Burns cautious and soon after the bowling change Nortje bowled two short balls, the latter which Rory top-edged high into the throat of Rabada at mid-off. Root guided one beautifully to 3rd man as the next man in. Denly pulled and Root hit a back foot punch not wasting bad balls. However, the wickets they were coming...Denly's a goner, keep walking back to the pavilion. You're out, you sure are. A real jaffa from Pretorius. Right on the money, ended up being umpire's call hitting leg stump after the review. Lunch was called at 171-3. England put their foot on the accelerator by attacking Maharaj. Stokes and Root brought up the 200, 3 down after a Maharaj over costing 13 runs. Faf relied on Keshav to do the job and he sure did. Next over: Dragged back on to the stumps by Stokesy! Maharaj bowls a wide one, hits the rough and bounces a little awkwardly. Bowled! Stokes will be kicking himself as the previous over of Keshav he got hit over the top and swept for four. Maharaj got his revenge there. England 4 down. Bairstow, can he make some valued runs for once? New ball coming in a while. SA would love another one before that. Pretorius has just bowled two unplayable deliveries to Root. One off a crack to keep low and one that bounced viciously over the knee roll. This is crazy again! What is going on? Root replied with a glance to vacant fine leg. Root and Bairstow made it to the new ball 4 down. But then, then happened what all English feared: That's a really stretched shot by Jonny. Way outside off stump by Rabada, Jonny goes fishing for it nonetheless. That's been greeted with some pleasingness for the man at gully, Hamza, to take it. Buttler to face the consequence of Vern-Rabada music, oh dear! Powerful cover drive from Buttler followed by a cheeky cut by Root. Eng are 231-5. Probably the last nail in the coffin: Great delivery by Nortje. A 90 mph delivery in a good area, 6th stump line on a length. Root has a nibble at it feeling he has to play at it. Gets an edge, QDK takes another easy catch. Eng are 232-6. Feels like that English win is rather far on this pitch. SA need 4 wickets to win. Jos hit a maximum soon after but that joy didn’t last long: That's a peach of a delivery to dismiss Curran by Rabada. Right on the money, had to play at it. Gets the edge, de Kock does the rest. It was QDK’s last catch, his eighth. I couldn’t resist :D : Nortje bowls a ball to kick Archer's ass. Meaning to penalize what had happened last innings (get hit many times on the body in his 40), Nortje bowls a firing thunderbolt worth 92 mph. A really stinky delivery but right up there, in the paradise zone, a little inviting a drive. Archer, as he's once invited, he wants to give it a crack, ends up on the wrong side of the fiery battle, edging one to the slips, 1st slip VDD. The enthusiasm is high. A Nokia phone delivery, one to be glad about just like other classic Finnish inventions. This delivery goes in the books as the one that gives the final, last blood for SA as only a couple tailenders are left to bowl. Eng are 256-8, mathematically with no chance, on a pitch finally people seeing what a minefield does. The diamond of SA is digged. Now SA will go 1-0 up. And a few balls later: High sky Buttler is gone with one wicket to go, KG gets his 3rd. Again a few later: Rabada gets his 7th of the match. Bowls out Broad with a straight one. Wonderful victory, that is that. Epilogue South Africa had won the match by 107 runs. They had been superb in all aspects of the game. The heroes, QDK, Vern, RVDD and Kagiso Rabada had a reason to finish this decade on a high. They had finished their losing streak and perhaps started a winnings streak of its own. England had lost the game basically by facing a huge 1st innings deficit of 103 runs. On this great bowling pitch there were no centurions in Centurion. Actually there was exactly one 50 per innings. Those were in order, QDK’s, Denly’s, VDD’s and Burns’. The only 5-wicket haul of the match belonged to Archer. It was an expensive one though. James Anderson’s 150th Test ended with SA getting 30 World Test Championship points. The series goes on, so does the drama. Keep watching!
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