South Africa: Road to Repair

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The year is 2019. Cricket South Africa is at breaking point. Tensions about selection policy, quotas and poor performance have led the entire board to be sacked and Australian executive Dylan Ddrap to be hired as a replacement. Will this be a golden era for South Africa, or will it be the death of African cricket?

In truth, I wanted to do a slightly more challenging save than Australia, and also one I could do more in depth than my Australia one. I again credit Aislabie (although I won't @ him) for the idea of a save being posted here, and I credit my mother for picking South Africa over my other contender, the West Indies.

Let's see how this goes...

Key Moments:
World Cup Final, 2019
de Kock scores 271
Majestic triple ton for Joe Root
787 all out, double ton for Faf
Janneman bashes 190 (120) as 380 is chased down
Faf 271 counters Sri Lanka marmalising
This entire series had barmy scores, but this was the first triple of the save
Faf wins us the WTC in his last game as captain

 

[ddrap14]

I'll frequently update the stats showing the in-game stats as this is an actual save file. Latest update can be found at: none yet, will be shown soon!

Cap List:

Test Cap No	Recipient	ODI Cap No	Recipient	T20 Cap No	Recipient
337	Rassie van der Dussen First Match: vs , First Test, Delhi, 1-5 Oct 2019	134	Janneman Malan First Match: vs , World Cup 2019 Warmup	83	Bjorn Fortuin First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020
338	Janneman Malan First Match: vs , First Test, Delhi, 1-5 Oct 2019	135	Pieter Malan First Match: vs , Game 3, 2020	84	Delano Potgieter First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020
339	Bjorn Fortuin First Match: vs , First Test, Jo'burg, 31 Dec 19-4 Jan 20	136	Bjorn Fortuin First Match: vs , Game 3, 2020	85	Eathan Bosch First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020
340	Glenton Stuurman First Match: vs , First Test, Jo'burg, 31 Dec 19-4 Jan 20	137	Dominic Hendricks First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020	86	Marques Ackerman First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020
341	Rudi Second First Match: vs , Second Test, Cape Town, 7-11 Jan 2020	138	Marco Jansen First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020	87	Marco Marais First Match: vs , Game 3, 2020
342	Kyle Verreynne First Match: vs , Second Test, Cape Town, 7-11 Jan 2020	139	Zubayr Hamza First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020	88	Anrich Nortje First Match: :rsa: vs , Game 1, 2020
343	Delano Potgieter First Match: vs , Fourth Test, Durban, 23-27 Jan 2020	140	Delano Potgieter First Match: vs , Game 2, 2020	89	Zubayr Hamza First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020
344	Marco Jansen First Match: vs , Fourth Test, Durban, 23-27 Jan 2020	141	Yves Kamanzi First Match: vs , Game 2, 2021	90	Dane Piedt First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020
345	Anrich Nortje First Match: vs , First Test, Jamaica, 17-21 Aug 2020			91	Corne Dry First Match: vs , Game 2, 2020
346	Thomas Kaber First Match: vs , Second Test, Cape Town, 24-28 Feb 2021			92	Wiaan Mulder First Match: vs , Game 1, 2020
347	Smangaliso Nhlebela First Match: vs , Third Test, Pretoria, 2-6 Mar 2021			93	Keegan Petersen First Match: vs , World T20 2020
348	Dean Albanie First Match: vs , Third Test, Pretoria, 2-6 Mar 2021			94	Allan Boje First Match: vs , Game 1, 2021

Honours Board (5+ wickets and 100+ runs):
Test:
Dean Elgar: 141 (345) vs , First Test, 2019
Quinton de Kock: 101* (189) vs , First Test, 2019
Keshav Maharaj: 5/107 vs , First Test, 2019
Janneman Malan: 138 (205) vs , Second Test, 2019
Dean Elgar: 103 (218) vs , Second Test, 2019
Faf du Plessis: 138 (300) vs , Third Test, 2019
Quinton de Kock: 271 (402) vs , Third Test, 2019
Keshav Maharaj: 8/138 vs , Third Test, 2019
Dean Elgar: 120 (269) vs , Second Test, 2020
Keshav Maharaj: 6/86 vs , Second Test, 2020
Aiden Markram: 112 (191) vs , Third Test, 2020
Keshav Maharaj: 6/56 vs , Third Test, 2020
Faf du Plessis: 205 (355) vs , Fourth Test, 2020
Vernon Philander: 5/38 vs , First Test, 2020
Dean Elgar: 119 (230) vs , First Test, 2020
Keshav Maharaj: 5/103 vs , First Test, 2020
Janneman Malan: 207 (350) vs , Second Test, 2020
Dale Steyn: 5/69 vs , Second Test, 2020
Faf du Plessis: 133 (267) vs , First Test, 2021
Aiden Markram: 118 (186) vs , First Test, 2021
Kagiso Rabada: 5/43 vs , First Test, 2021
Faf du Plessis: 257 (471) vs , Second Test, 2021
Aiden Markram: 113 (232) vs , First Test, 2021
Quinton de Kock: 167 (276) vs , Second Test, 2021
Kyle Verreynne: 176 (304) vs , Second Test, 2021
Keshav Maharaj: 5/98 vs , Second Test, 2021
Aiden Markram: 101 (196) vs , First Test, 2021
Faf du Plessis: 128 (246) vs , First Test, 2021
Quinton de Kock: 182 (254) vs , First Test, 2021
Dean Elgar: 5/161 vs , First Test, 2021
Janneman Malan: 163 (294) vs , First Test, 2021
Quinton de Kock: 280 (445) vs , Second Test, 2021
Kagiso Rabada: 5/92 vs , Second Test, 2021
Quinton de Kock: 142 (219) vs , Third Test, 2021
Faf du Plessis: 312 (494) vs , Third Test, 2021
Janneman Malan: 108 (183) vs , Third Test, 2021
Kyle Verreynne: 109* (128) vs , Third Test, 2021
Faf du Plessis: 177 (356) vs , World Test Championship 2021 Final

ODI:
Faf du Plessis: 109 (142) vs (World Cup 2019)
Andile Phehlukwayo: 6/51 vs (World Cup 2019)
Kagiso Rabada: 5/32 vs (World Cup 2019)
Rassie van der Dussen: 114* (125) vs (World Cup 2019)
Dwaine Pretorius: 5/11 vs (World Cup 2019)
Quinton de Kock: 173 (125) vs (World Cup 2019)
Janneman Malan: 100 (86) vs (World Cup 2019)
Janneman Malan: 170* (153) vs (World Cup 2019)
Janneman Malan: 192 (121) vs , Game 1, 2020
Quinton de Kock: 113 (68) vs , Game 1, 2020
Kagiso Rabada: 5/57 vs , Game 1, 2020
Janneman Malan: 178 (145) vs , Game 2, 2020
Andile Phehlukwayo: 5/80 vs , Game 2, 2020
Janneman Malan: 101 (92) vs , Game 1, 2020
Faf du Plessis: 115 (102) vs , Game 2, 2020
Janneman Malan: 103 (83) vs , Game 3, 2020
Andile Phehlukwayo: 5/60 vs , Game 2, 2021
Quinto de Kock: 191 (130) vs , Game 3, 2021

T20:
Wiaan Mulder: 6/31 vs , Game 1, 2020
Kagiso Rabada: 5/30 vs , Game 2, 2020
Faf du Plessis: 106* (56) vs , Game 3, 2021
Janneman Malan: 110* (56) vs , Game 3, 2021

Awards:

Year	Mike Proctor Trophy	Graeme Pollock Trophy	Clive Rice Trophy	Vintcent Van der Bijl Trophy
2020	Janneman Malan 2nd: Rabada, 3rd: Maharaj	Quinton du Kock	Janneman Malan	Kagiso Rabada
2021	Faf du Plessis 2nd: J Malan, 3rd: du Kock	Faf du Plessis	Quinton du Kock	Dale Steyn

Year	Barry Richards Trophy	Garth le Roux Trophy	Lee Irvine Trophy
2020	Delano Potgieiter	Faraan Behardien	Corne Dry
2021	Lungi Ngidi	Lerato Kgoatle	Migael Pretorius

 

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Records
Team Records

Record	Test Record	ODI Record	T20 Record
Highest Total For	787 vs , 2020	7/395 vs , World Cup 2019	5/203 vs , Game 3, 2021
Highest Total Against	636 vs , 2020	7/377 vs , Game 1, 2020
Lowest Total For		130 vs , Game 1, 2020	9/86 vs , Game 3, 2020
Lowest Total Against	153 vs , 2020	77 vs , World Cup 2019	66 vs , Game 2, 2020

Batting and Bowling Records

Record	Test Record	ODI Record	T20 Record
Highest Individual Score	312, Faf du Plessis vs , 2021	192, Janneman Malan vs , Game 1, 2020	110*, Janneman Malan vs , Game 3, 2021
Highest Overall Runs
Highest Batting Average (min 300 runs)
Best Innings Bowling (Best Match Bowling for Tests)	8/138, Keshav Maharaj vs , 2019 11/225, Keshav Maharaj vs , 2019	6/51, A. Phehlukwayo vs , World Cup 2019	6/31, Wiaan Mulder vs , Game 2, 2020
Most Overall Wickets
Lowest Bowling Average (min 30 wickets)

 

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World Cup, 2019

South Africa Squad
Faf du Plessis
David Miller
Rassie van der Dussen
Temba Bavuma
Janneman Malan

Quinton de Kock

Chris Morris
Andile Phehlukwayo
Dwaine Pretorius

Tabraiz Shamsi
Imran Tahir
Lungi Ngidi
Kagiso Rabada
Dale Steyn

Right, the big selection calls from the new head coach. JP Duminy is omitted and according to sources, his South Africa career is likely over. Another notable omission is Aiden Markram who likely has not convinced Ddrap of his selection worthiness based on an average of 29. He's replaced by the only uncapped player in the squad, Janneman Malan. Comments made by the coach indicate that Pieter Malan, Rudi Second and George Linde were all considered but not chosen.

 

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World Cup 2019
For limited overs matches I won't be going into the detail of each match, instead I'll present summaries.


Warmup match 1 was over before it started as some devastating quick bowling by Andile and Rabada ended SL's innings for 85. It was a simple chase for South Africa and Janneman Malan's unbeaten 39 was a good sign.


Warmup match 2 suffered from some issues, namely being bowled out for 197 (although Van der Dussen was good). The bowlers were decent but they were never going to defend 197.

Game 1 vs England:

Don't be fooled. Faf took nearly half of the balls to make that 109, and that hurt us badly. Andile was great though.

Coming soon: the rest of the groups!

 

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Group Match 2

Make no mistake Faf and Rassie were good, but the contribution that actually won us the match was by Janneman Malan, a run a ball 47 squeaked us home.

Group Match 3

Well well well... MOTM goes to Rabada although Andile and Faf also played well

Group Match 4

Our bowling attack finally showed up! Phehlukwayo and Pretorius got wickets, Rabada and Ngidi were inexpensive, and Tahir was both. Happy coach!

Group Match 5

An upset nobody saw coming, particularily India who are the most upset of all (they go bottom). Andile just edges out Rassie IMHO for our best performer.

Group Match 6

Rassie get in!!!!!!!!!!!

Third as of the end of Game 6. A good performance. Confusingly the top 4 are PAK, BAN, us and AUS with AFG just outside and IND and SL bottom... rest of the games in another post because this one is getting very long

 

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Group Match 7

A team batting effort (after we dropped the struggling Amla I should note) and then a very not team bowling innings as, after three run outs and Dwaine Pretorius nicking off Imam, he tore apart the tail to get the best bowling figures we've had in the tournament.

Group Match 8

Gaze upon the glory. QDK is a very obvious MOTM, Malan and Rabada performing well and the rest of the team chipping in too.


Group Match 9
Before I sim this, I want to say Australia is the opponent I'm most scared of.

Tahir and Bavuma come good! Rassie is MOTM over them but I'm very happy that they are able to perform now as we go into finals. Australia made the baffling decision to put Finch at five, it's worth noting.

So we are through to the semis where we will face Australia...

Semi Final

JANNEMAN MALAN YOU HERO!


Bangladesh in the final. What a immense final!

Final

THE REBUILD COULD NOT HAVE STARTED BETTER AND IN WHAT STYLE THE WIN IS ACHIEVED! SOUTH AFRICA WIN WORLD CUP 2019 AS DWAINE PRETORIUS SHEPHERDS HOME THE TAIL TO WIN IT AT THE DEATH!





For some reason the game gave me the 20 Over World Cup achievement... odd

Well... what an achievement

 

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MIKE PROCTOR TROPHY and WORLD CUP STATS!

Director of Cricket for South Africa, Dylan Ddrap, has today announced the formation of a series of awards. Named after cricketers who did not receive due recognition at the highest level due to the atrocities of Apartheid, they will reward cricketers for performance.

Trophy	Awarded For
Mike Proctor Trophy	Best International Cricketer (across all three formats) 3-2-1 for the three players of the series, +1 for being MOTM
Graeme Pollock Trophy	Test Cricketer of the Year (decided at season's end)
Clive Rice Trophy	ODI Cricketer of the Year (decided at season's end)
Vintcent Van der Bijl Trophy	T20I Cricketer of the Year (decided at season's end)
Barry Richards Trophy	FC Cricketer of the Year (decided at season's end)
Garth le Roux Trophy	OD Cricketer of the Year (decided at season's end)
Lee Irvine Trophy	T20 Cricketer of the Year (decided at season's end)

So, here's the three votes for the WC:
Janneman Malan (3)
Kagiso Rabada (2)
Dwaine Pretorius (1)
Rassie and Andile can feel very hard charged.
Also +1s to Pretorius (2), Janneman (2), QDK, Rassie, Faf, Tahir and Rabada.
So the current standings are Janneman Malan 5, Kagiso Rabada and Dwaine Pretorius 3, and everyone else 1.

Also, here's the full WC stats, because I wanted to share them!

 

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South Africa vs India, Test Tour
October 2019

South Africa Squad
Hashim Amla
Aiden Markram
Faf du Plessis
Zubayr Hamza
Rassie van der Dussen
Dean Elgar
Janneman Malan

Quinton de Kock

Vernon Philander
Dayyan Galiem
Shaun von Berg

Anrich Nortje
Keshav Maharaj
Lungi Ngidi
Kagiso Rabada
Dale Steyn
Beuran Hendricks
Glenton Stuurman

As many as seven players could make their Test debuts in this series although you'd expect Galiem is only here for experience. Rassie van der Dussen and Janneman Malan are included after brilliant form in the ODI World Cup and a lot of runs last domestic year. The other five are allrounders and bowlers: Dayyan Galiem, Shaun von Berg, Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks and Glenton Stuurman. In fairness there were a lot of gaps in the side I've inherited as IRL CSA can't settle on backups for the life of them. Let's hope some of the new boys put in good performances.

before you kill me, Pretorius was injured

 

[Aislabie]

Out of interest, have you been picking according to quota restrictions, or not so much?

And 2019 was one of the odd years where I didn't buy the game, but if his 2018 ratings are anything to go by Bjorn Fortuin is the spin bowling all-rounder you won't be able to live without

 

[ddrap14]

Out of interest, have you been picking according to quota restrictions, or not so much?

And 2019 was one of the odd years where I didn't buy the game, but if his 2018 ratings are anything to go by Bjorn Fortuin is the spin bowling all-rounder you won't be able to live without

I think the above squad actually does conform to the quotas, but I'm not planning it as much.

Thanks for the tip on Fortuin. I know from past experience (Australia save) that I cannot live without Janneman Malan and, in a couple years, Kyle Verreynne, so they will likely be pillars of this team

 

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South Africa vs India
First Test Match, Delhi (1-5 October 2019)

Lineups:

South Africa	India
Janneman Malan	Shikhar Dhawan
Dean Elgar	Lokesh Rahul
Hashim Amla	Chet Pujara
Faf du Plessis	Hanuma Vihari
Rassie van der Dussen	Shreyas Iyer
Aiden Markram	Virat Kohli
Quinton de Kock	Rishabh Pant
Vernon Philander	Jasprit Bumrah
Keshav Maharaj	Mohammad Shami
Lungi Ngidi	Ishant Sharma
Kagiso Rabada	Mohammad Siraj

South Africa chose to give debuts to Malan and van der Dussen and play only four bowlers on what seemed to be a very batting friendly pitch. Meanwhile, India's tail may trouble them. But both sides have decent enough top sixes. Interesting battle

Faf du Plessis was only too happy to bat first on said green pitch when he won the toss. He also would have been happy to watch his openers almost bat to tea. It was Janneman Malan first out for a wonderful 93 edging Siraj behind, unlucky to fall short of a debut ton. After Amla went quickly LBW Ishant, Elgar converted his hundred two overs before the close of play on Day 1.

Day 2 was approached with good urgency from du Plessis and Elgar and it produced a further 75 runs before du Plessis top edged to Shami at long on. Elgar nicked to slip three overs later to end a brilliant innings of 141 (345). Van der Dussen failed on his debut, edging to slip for 14, before the aggressive Markram and de Kock put on another century partnership. Markram also missed his hundred, nicking behind for 91, however QDK came out on morning three and got his hundred off 189 balls, before the innings was closed.

The Indian openers put on 59 of their own before Dhawan top edged a Philander short ball and was caught at fine leg. Maharaj dealt with Rahul just after lunch, nicking to slip, before Vihari and Pujara put on 70 more. An unusually aggressive innings from Pujara was ended when he flicked Ngidi to square leg. Another 70 was added before Iyer nicked Maharaj, but four overs later he had Vihari too, stumped, and two new batsmen were at the crease for the first time since the start of the innings. The king's gambit, Kohli, didn't last under this pressure: he drove lazily straight to mid on off Maharaj's next over. Four overs later, Pant LBW Maharaj and five wickets for the spinner. India's bowlers needed to score 82 to avoid the follow-on, and despite Bumrah doubling his Test best score, they didn't even get close. The follow on was enforced, du Plessis saying to the media that "it gives us our best chance of a positive result".

And so hostilities resumed on Day 4, India needing 258 to make South Africa bat again. And they certainly were hostile early to Kagiso Rabada, hitting him for 22 from his first 3 overs. That forced the introduction of Philander and Dhawan chipped his third ball tamely back to him. Philander then bowled Pujara for 7, before in the very next over Rahul fended off one from Maharaj that bounced straight to short leg. India 3/39. They took lunch at 5/74, with Kohli and Pant needing to pull off a miracle. While they put on 100 runs, Kohli was bowled for 66 ten overs before the second new ball. Ishant showed some fight, but Pant was caught at square leg from the final ball of Day 4 and it took just one over on Day 5 for proceedings to be wrapped up.


For his nine wickets, the Proctor Trophy point goes to Keshav Maharaj

 

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South Africa vs India
Second Test Match, Kolkata (8-12 October 2019)

Lineups:

South Africa	India
Janneman Malan	Shikhar Dhawan
Dean Elgar	Lokesh Rahul
Hashim Amla	Chet Pujara
Faf du Plessis	Hanuma Vihari
Rassie van der Dussen	Virat Kohli
Aiden Markram	Rishabh Pant
Quinton de Kock	Rohit Sharma
Vernon Philander	Jasprit Bumrah
Keshav Maharaj	Mohammad Shami
Lungi Ngidi	Ishant Sharma
Kagiso Rabada	Mohammad Siraj

After the crushing win in Delhi, South Africa came in unchanged on a similar pitch in Kolkata. Meanwhile India dropped Shreyas Iyer and brought in Rohit Sharma... at seven. No, I don't understand either. What I do understand is Kohli winning the toss and batting. Rahul failed again, yorked early by Ngidi, however. What that did was bring together Dhawan and Pujara, and they tore the South African attack to shreds. 169 runs before lunch were scored before Dean Elgar of all people caught Dhawan out of his ground running down to try and hit a third six. His 101 had still put India in the ascendancy. The arrival of Vihari slowed down the scoring from one end but Pujara kept going. The third wicket fell the ball after tea with Ngidi pinning Vihari. His after-tea spell was destructive, also removing Kohli in the same fashion two overs later. Meanwhile, Pujara's brilliant knock came to an end ten overs after tea as Maharaj finally spun one, grabbing the edge and going straight to slip. Rohit Sharma attacked early before Pant chipped Maharaj back to the bowler. Despite the Indians' good work they were still looking at the uncomfortable prospect of the tail facing the new ball and that got even less comfortable when Markram became the second part-timer to grab a wicket, Bumrah glancing to short leg. Ngidi and Rabada needed just 15 deliveries to clean up the tail after the new ball, and India had lost 8/76 to be 395 all out.

The first priority in South Africa's reply was being none down at stumps. Elgar nicked Bumrah behind in the third over. From this early setback, no further losses occurred on Day 1, or indeed before lunch on Day 2. Janneman Malan played the aggressor while Amla took it slow and steady. With good reason too; the one time he went aggressive and aerial it ended up in Pujara's hands at long on. Du Plessis failed, but at the other end Janneman Malan brought up his first century at Test level. He was fourth out, slashing a wide ball from Bumrah to Dhawan at slip. This led to a small collapse as Markram and Van der Dussen (after a great fifty for the latter) got out in similar fashion. Philander failed to negotiate the new ball and after a few quick wickets on the third morning South Africa were all out 45 runs in arrears.

KL Rahul nicked off early again, out for 15 in the 11th over, to cast doubt over his place in the side. Shikhar Dhawan was then yorked to give Philander two in the innings, after metering some harsh punishment to Maharaj. After being spelled, the spinner returned though to catch Pujara in his follow through and send the Indians' most in form batsman packing for 53. Virat failed again, picking up a pair of twos in this match, and after an enterprising partnership between Vihari and Pant, the latter flicked Ngidi's fourth ball of a new spell to cover. Rohit Sharma played a similarily brisk innings before nicking behind one short of fifty. This exposed the tail, and three wickets in six balls from Rabada all but ended the innings, Philander finishing the job an over later to give South Africa the job of scoring 346 in 5 and a half sessions.

Something that would have concerned du Plessis was the other opener failing this time, Malan slashing to gully from Bumrah for nine. When paired with Dean Elgar this time, Amla played much more positively, and a 150-run partnership followed until, just past the halfway mark of the chase, Amla was trapped LBW for 80. Elgar continued to his century but edged to third slip on the fourth ball of Day 5, with 134 still to get. du Plessis and Rassie stayed together until the latter was bowled in the first over after the second new ball was taken. 30 more runs were added by the captain and Markram before Faf edged Ishant behind. 59 needed, five wickets in hand. Unfortunately for India, that was as close as it got. de Kock and Markram walked in the remaining target to ensure South Africa had their series victory. In a match where the most notable contributions were from Indians, Janneman Malan's first century was favoured by the adjudicators for the Proctor Award point, although Pujara was given the official Man of the Match.


Malan 138 (205)
Elgar 103 (218)

 

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South Africa vs India
Third Test Match, Mumbai (15-19 October 2019)

Lineups:

South Africa	India
Janneman Malan	Shikhar Dhawan
Dean Elgar	Lokesh Rahul
Hashim Amla	Chet Pujara
Faf du Plessis	Hanuma Vihari
Rassie van der Dussen	Virat Kohli
Aiden Markram	Rishabh Pant
Quinton de Kock	Rohit Sharma
Vernon Philander	Bhuveneshwar Kumar
Keshav Maharaj	Umesh Yadav
Lungi Ngidi	Jasprit Bumrah
Kagiso Rabada	Ishant Sharma

South Africa continued unchanged while in an odd turn of events, India dropped two pace bowlers and still didn't pick Ashwin. Maybe he's injured. Regardless, du Plessis won the toss and like in Games 1 and 2, batted first. His openers did well to survive the new ball but off the first ball of Over 11, Malan nicked to gully. Amla and Elgar then put on 136, meaning they've scored 302 runs in their last two outings together, before Elgar was LBW to India's premier spinner, Hanuma Vihari. Vihari then showed that my joke wasn't actually as funny as I thought, Amla nicking to slip. This caused some problems as du Plessis, Markram and de Kock all got set and then out. South Africa's bacon was saved by van der Dussen though who put 350 firmly in play by scoring 77. Philander and Maharaj pitched in to get to 398.

Rabada and Ngidi created chaos early. Rahul was dropped at slip in the second over off Ngidi, but seven overs (and not many runs) later Malan made no mistake at gully. Philander removed Pujara for 12 in his second over, a key wicket given the Indian's form. Maharaj then caught the edge of Vihari's bat, leaving India three down at tea. Dhawan continued to attack, hitting Maharaj for six over mid wicket and then four through mid on in the 26th over. One ball after the four though, Maharaj ripped one through the opening batsman and bowled him middle stump. His departure for 91 brought together Kohli and Pant and they seemed to have a rebuild coming together nicely until Pant went for a big drive, inside edged it and was caught at short leg. Philander re-entered the attack and instantly cleaned up Kohli, giving South Africa a huge advantage. Sharma then got a faint edge on an Elgar half tracker and the part-timer, along with Philander, cleaned up the tail.

Malan got his third failure in a row but this time Elgar joined him, leaving South Africa 2/33 after 15 overs. This became 3/66 when Amla was cleaned up by the impressive Umesh, adn 4/104 when Rassie van der Dussen gloved one down the leg side, and then Markram became the fourth South African to fall between 17 and 27 when he edged Bumrah to slip. However, the elder statesmen of the team stood up. du Plessis' 134 (300) and QDK's 271 (402), aided by a Test best 64 from Maharaj, set India 771 in just under a day to win. In all honesty the declaration could have come earlier but de Kock chased that triple by batting at six an over for half of his innings.

Shikhar Dhawan seemed to actually believe the target was achievable, whacking Rabada around the park. When Philander was brought on in his stead, KL Rahul immediately edged to Markram at slip. Dhawan was just as brutal on Maharaj but again he fell short of a hundred off the spinner, this time edging a big drive on 94. While the spinner immediately disposed of Vihari, Kohli and Pujara batted through the rest of the second session, but in the first over of the third Kohli was bowled by Maharaj, giving the Proteas a shot. Maharaj again got a double breakthrough, bowling Pant, and then also got Rohit to edge to slip. Rabada was brought in to attack, but while he leaked runs he did remove Kumar. With 48 minutes left in the Test however, Pujara made a grave error. He shuffled down the wicket at Maharaj and missed. The spinner bowled Yadav two balls later, then Ishant was plumb LBW the next over to end the match and give Maharaj career best figures of 8/138. de Kock gets the Man of the Match award.



Man of the Series:
1st: K Maharaj- the spinner's 24 wickets proved very decisive
2nd: V Philander- 12 wickets while not always getting assistance, and some handy batting contributions
3rd: Q de Kock- 458 runs. Although most came in one innings, that's still highly impressive

The Chase for the Mike Proctor Trophy
J Malan- 6
K Maharaj- 4
K Rabada- 3
D Pretorius- 3
Q de Kock- 3
V Philander- 2
F du Plessis- 1
R van der Dussen- 1
I Tahir- 1

 

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South Africa vs England, Test Series
December 2019 - January 2020

South Africa Squad (will be updated for each Test):
Aiden Markram
Faf du Plessis
Rassie van der Dussen (Match 1)
Dean Elgar
Janneman Malan

Quinton de Kock
Kyle Verreynne
Rudi Second (Match 2-4)

Vernon Philander
Bjorn Fortuin
Delano Potgieter (Match 4)

Keshav Maharaj
Lungi Ngidi
Kagiso Rabada (Match 1-3)
Glenton Stuurman (Match 1-2)
Marco Jansen (Match 3-4)

With Steyn and Amla injured and their Test careers likely done, some more of the new guard are in this squad. One of Kyle Verreynne, Bjorn Fortuin and Glenton Stuurman will get their Test debuts this test. Everyone else from the India starting lineup remains and why wouldn't they?
Match 2 squad changes: Following the defeat to England caused by batting fragility, Rassie van der Dussen was dropped for Rudi Second.
Match 4 squad change: Rabada, who was ineffective in the third Test, is rested and Delano Potgieter brought back into the team.