Ken Borland

Mark Boucher conceded on Tuesday that his first series win as South Africa coach had come in their own conditions at home, but he was nevertheless pleased with several features of the Proteas’ play as they wrapped up a 2-0 triumph over Sri Lanka with an emphatic 10-wicket win in the second Test at the Wanderers.

“It was good to get the win, albeit in home conditions. But it was nice to see the batsmen spend some time in the middle and get some confidence back, and hopefully we can now build on that momentum in Pakistan. We will keep working on the technical stuff but they were quite solid on tough pitches. It was important for them to keep their intensity up and have a positive mindset.

“The bowlers have only played a handful of games between them, but they have lots of potential and they learnt pretty quickly. To see their growth makes me happy, if you compare them from that first innings at Centurion to how well they bowled here. They are a young group of bowlers and we just want them to keep it simple and try and get the best out of the conditions,” Boucher said on Tuesday.

While opening batsman Dean Elgar was the obvious choice for the man of the series award, scoring 253 runs at an average of 126.50, Boucher said the performances of rookies Wiaan Mulder and Lutho Sipamla were the other big positives of the rubber.

Mulder played a useful innings of 36 in the first Test at Centurion, while his skilful work with the ball – taking nine wickets at 20.55 – was brilliant and brought crucial balance to the attack. Fast bowler Sipamla topped the bowling averages for the series with 10 wickets at 16.70.

“I’m very happy to have Dean in such good form, he was nice and aggressive and technically I’m very happy with where he is too. He was able to score runs in tough conditions,” Boucher said. “We didn’t really see the batting side of Wiaan, but he is a very good batsman who could go into the top six. But he was fantastic for us with the ball, he’s there to make breakthroughs and it’s great to have that all-round option.

“Wiaan is still very young [22] but the talent is obviously there. And he has a great attitude, he’s so keen to learn and hopefully he can now stay on the park because I see a great future for him.

“One couldn’t judge Lutho on his first day in Test cricket because he had so many nerves. But he’s also very young [also 22] and he would never have felt that intensity of nerves ever before. But it showed Test cricket means so much to him, which is a good sign. He still needs to work on his lines and lengths, but he was definitely one of the positives.

“He learnt a helluva lot in this series, maybe he was a bit guilty of searching for wickets yesterday [Monday], trying to get some swing, and not hitting the deck hard, but today [Tuesday] he had decent pace and asked lots of questions,” Boucher said.

Kagiso Rabada announced himself on Sunday as the man to lead the future South African pace attack as he single-handedly destroyed the Dolphins and set up a resounding 10-wicket win for the bizhub Highveld Lions in their Sunfoil Series match at the Wanderers.

Rabada claimed a phenomenal nine for 33 in 16.2 overs on Sunday to finish with match figures of 14 for 105.

Only one other man has taken 14 wickets in a franchise match and that was Dale Steyn for the Titans against the Eagles in Bloemfontein in 2007/8.

Rabada could well be South Africa’s next great fast bowler, with the 19-year-old confirming all the good things followers of the game are hearing about him with a thunderous performance at the Wanderers.

The Dolphins were bundled out for just 134 by Rabada, leaving the Lions with a target of just 16 to win, those runs being knocked off by openers Stephen Cook and Rassie van der Dussen.

The Dolphins, trailing by 119 runs on first innings, had resumed on 22 for one on Sunday morning after the third day’s play had been limited to just 29.1 overs by bad light and rain, and they were immediately rocked by Rabada having Daniel Sincuba caught behind for four.

The Wanderers pitch was far from her most venomous, but Rabada managed to swing the ball and generated impressive pace, having Cody Chetty (5) caught in the slips in his third over of the day before taking a break.

Rabada’s second spell was the perfect marriage of control, pace and movement as he ripped through the Dolphins lower-order in a dazzling spell of six for 10 in 6.2 overs.

Rassie van der Dussen dived full-length at backward point to catch Morne van Wyk for seven, but the five other batsmen dismissed by Rabada were all bowled or trapped lbw, save for last man Daryn Dupavillon (0), who popped a return catch back to the St Stithians product.

Opener Divan van Wyk was the only Dolphins batsman to resist for long, batting for 204 minutes and scoring 56 before he chopped Rabada into his own stumps.

Rabada is the youngest South African to take 13 wickets in a first-class match and he will surely continue to follow in Steyn’s considerable footsteps.