A dramatic final-day fightback saw the Proteas take six wickets and seal an unlikely victory in Gqeberha.
Marco Jansen (left) and Simon Harmer celebrate a wicket for South Africa during day four of the second Test against Australia in Gqeberha on Wednesday. Picture: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images
Who said Test cricket is dead?
It’s alive and kicking – and so is the Proteas men’s three-match Test series against Australia after the hosts levelled the series with an unlikely innings and 31-run win over their foes in the last session of the second Test in a windy Gqeberha yesterday.
South Africa’s fightback was nothing short of spectacular.
Put into bat under grey skies on Sunday, the world Test champions were rocked.
With just 12.2 overs available, the hosts finished day one on 12/2.
More rain on the second day and the Proteas could only get to day two stumps on 97/5, after another rain-curtailed day on a tricky pitch.
A draw looked the only likely result, but then a captain’s knock of 179 from Temba Bavuma – who spent over nine hours at the crease – aided by rearguard defiance and attack from Marco Jansen (85) and Simon Harmer (82) saw the Proteas post a solid first innings score.
Still, a draw looked likely. But then came the magic as South Africa bowled the Aussies out for just a meagre 99 runs and enforced the follow-on – only the fourth time they have done so against their rivals.
On Wednesday night, at stumps on day four, they had the Aussies in all sorts of trouble at 156/4 – needing six wickets to level the series, even though so much time had been lost and they had lost one of their star bowlers in Anrich Nortje in the first innings.
But, true to the spirit of Test cricket, there was another twist in the tale.
Yesterday, the first session was almost all lost to – you guessed it – more rain, bringing the draw back into the equation, which would ensure the Aussies could not lose the series.
Once the covers came off and the sun showed itself, a brilliant century by opener Travis Head and a wonderful three-hour knock by nightwatchman Scott Boland halted South Africa’s charge – for a while… before the Proteas fought their way to a famous series-levelling triumph with light fading and overs dwindling.
Bring on Cape Town and the third Test.
