Ken Borland

Chasing down 305 in the last innings on a SuperSport Park pitch offering variable bounce and plenty of movement will remain a quixotic prospect for South Africa as they struggled to stumps with four wickets down on the fourth day of the first Test at Centurion on Wednesday.

Led by captain Dean Elgar’s defiant 52 not out, the Proteas closed on 94/4, which leaves them with 211 runs still to get on the final day for an unlikely victory. No team has ever reached 300 in the fourth innings of a Test at SuperSport Park.

Elgar has been at the crease for more than three hours, facing 122 deliveries, and has been unfazed by the many times he has been beaten, or struck on the body. He and a similarly phlegmatic Rassie van der Dussen (11) spent 102 minutes together defying the conditions and the venomous Indian attack, lifting the hopes of the home team and their supporters.

But India’s spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah, returned to the attack five overs before the close and struck a vital blow with just his fourth delivery. Van der Dussen misjudged a leave and Bumrah, who has been bringing the ball back sharply so often in this Test, slanted the delivery straight into off stump.

Nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj was then showing his mettle with the bat to reach 8 with just two balls remaining in the day when Bumrah cleaned him up with a tremendous yorker into the base of leg-stump.

South Africa have also lost the wickets of Aiden Markram (1), who was also trying to leave the ball but withdrew his bat too late and bottom-edged Mohammed Shami into his stumps, and Keegan Petersen (17), who was beaten by some late away movement by Mohammed Siraj and caught behind the wicket.

India’s batsmen were also exposed to the whole gamut of difficulties posed by the surface in their second innings, being bowled out for just 174 in 50.3 overs.

Opener and first-innings centurion Lokesh Rahul (23) and Cheteshwar Pujara (16) batted time and both survived for nearly two hours before both fell to Lungi Ngidi (10-2-31-2).

Ajinkya Rahane (20) and Rishabh Pant (34) decided attack was the way to go and both scored at around a run-a-ball, as did Ravichandran Ashwin (14) in a 35-run seventh-wicket stand with Pant.

Their positive approach threatened to really take the lead far beyond South Africa’s reach, but Kagiso Rabada returned to wrap up the tail and finish with 4/42 in 17 hard-working overs.

Marco Jansen completed a satisfactory debut with 4/55 in 13.3 overs.

Kagiso Rabada provided the fire up front with three wickets but it was spinner Keshav Maharaj who made the key strikes as he claimed only the second hat-trick for South Africa in Test history to send the West Indies plummeting to 109 for six at lunch on the fourth day of the second Test at St Lucia.

The left-arm spinner removed Kieran Powell (51), Jason Holder (0) and Joshua de Silva (0) with successive deliveries in the penultimate over before lunch, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen and Wiaan Mulder taking catches of increasing difficulty to help Maharaj to the wonderful achievement.

Opener Powell looked in the mood to stick around as the West Indies went in search of a steep target of 324 for victory, but then suddenly decided to tee-up Maharaj and slog-swept him straight to Nortje at deep midwicket. The tall Holder then inside-edged his first ball on to his pad from where it rebounded quickly to short-leg, Petersen taking a sharp catch quite high to his left.

The hat-trick ball saw Mulder snatch a marvellous one-handed grab at leg-slip, diving to his right, as Da Silva tickled Maharaj around the corner.

South Africa’s only other Test hat-trick came in 1960 when fast bowler Geoff Griffin performed the feat against England at Lord’s.

Despite Maharaj’s success, the St Lucia pitch continues to be a haven for fast bowling and Rabada was outstanding up front as he had West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite (6) caught in the slips in his second over of the day.

A vicious, superbly-directed short ball then saw Shai Hope (2) glove a catch to the slips, while Kyle Mayers looked set for bigger things but eventually succumbed to some fine pressure bowling on 34 when he skied a wild pull at a delivery outside off stump from Rabada and Proteas captain Dean Elgar took his second well-judged catch of the morning.

Jermaine Blackwood survived through to lunch on 5 not out, while Kemar Roach is on one. The West Indies were only too happy for the sanctuary of the changeroom after their collapse from 90 for two, losing four wickets for 17 runs, left them still needing 215 runs to level the series with just four wickets standing.

With the injury-decimated Sri Lankan side succumbing to an innings defeat midway through the fourth day, it may have seemed there was not much resistance from the tourists in the first Test against South Africa at Centurion, but Proteas captain Quinton de Kock said it was still a hard-fought win and there are plenty of positives the hosts will take from the game.

Sure, Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 180 in their second innings, with only Kusal Perera (64) and Wanindu Hasaranga (59) providing much resistance as they went down by an innings and 45 runs, but rewind to two days earlier and South Africa were certainly under pressure.

Having conceded 396, the third largest first innings total they have ever managed to overcome to win a Test, South Africa made it to lunch on 45 without loss. Openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram provided the ideal platform by taking that first-wicket stand to 141, but even then there was a mid-afternoon wobble as the Proteas slid from 200 for one to 220 for four.

And then enter Faf du Plessis with a magnificent 199, and Temba Bavuma and their crucial fifth-wicket partnership of 179, added to with great effect by Wiaan Mulder and Keshav Maharaj.

“A Test win never comes easy and we still had to earn it. We fought really hard with the bat after Sri Lanka came out with plenty of intent. It was quite a difficult pitch and we knew we had to be positive. Aiden and Dean started really well and their momentum really helped the rest of the batsmen. Then Faf showed how important is to have senior guys with experience, we needed that under pressure.

“And then the bowlers came back really nicely in the second innings. A guy like Wiaan Mulder is still a youngster but he bowled with maturity, he showed what he’s about and really added value with the ball. Lutho Sipamla made a great comeback, the first day all came down to his Test debut and nerves, he began to bowl like he has been in the nets and it was great to see that fight from him,” De Kock said after starting his Test captaincy tenure with a win.

De Kock said the presence of other leaders who have been captains in the franchise system in the Proteas team had helped him deal with captaincy for the first time in long-format cricket.

“I’ve never captained before in a first-class game but you do have more time to think about things and it helps to have good leaders in the team around me – guys like Dean, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba and Faf. I’ve been standing next to Faf for most of my Test career so I very much knew what Test captaincy is about.

“People always talk about youngsters coming through but you need a balance. Faf really showed his experience in this Test, we needed that under pressure. He showed his leadership and how to handle that pressure because he’s been through those situations many times before,” De Kock said.

South Africa had a 1-0 series lead safely tucked away in their property as they completed an innings-and-45-runs victory over Sri Lanka half-an-hour after lunch on the fourth day of the first Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday.

With this being just a two-match series, it means the Proteas are assured of not losing their fourth successive Test series.

The injury-decimated Sri Lankans were eventually put out of their misery on 180 with Dhananjaya de Silva the only batsman who eventually did not come to the crease.

Fast bowlers Lutho Sipamla and Anrich Nortje claimed the last two wickets as South Africa’s four pacemen took two wickets apiece and there was a run out.

The Proteas began the post-lunch session with two spinners in an attempt to lift their lagging over-rate, but once Sipamla returned, he had Wanindu Hasaranga caught as the plucky debutant tried to drive him down the ground. Hasaranga had belted 59 off just 53 balls, with 12 fours and a six.

Nortje then induced a catch in the gully from Kasun Rajitha (0) and South Africa will go into the second Test at the Wanderers with much to build on.

South Africa put themselves on the verge of victory in the morning session as they were able to tear through the visitors’ batting line-up, taking five wickets as Sri Lanka limped to lunch on 148 for seven, still trailing by 77 runs.

While Lungi Ngidi had been the wicket-taker on the third evening as Sri Lanka went to 65 for two overnight, it was seamer Wiaan Mulder who did most of the damage on the fourth morning with a fine spell of nine overs, two for 29.

He made the first breakthrough of the day when he jagged a delivery back through Dinesh Chandimal’s gate, hitting the top of off stump and bowling him for 25. Mulder bowled particularly well to the left-handers and then had Niroshan Dickwella caught behind for 10, using the natural angle from over the wicket to good effect.

Opener Kusal Perera was still there, however, and landed some tremendous blows as he belted 64 off 87 balls, taking on the Proteas pacemen with the same belligerent attitude as in his famous matchwinning innings in Durban in 2019.

It was Nortje who removed the dangerman, however, winning a caught-behind decision against the left-hander with umpire Adrian Holdstock’s not out decision being overturned on review as a thin edge was picked up on UltraEdge.

Sipamla, who has just been getting better and better after a tough first day at the office, then produced a superb delivery to dismiss first-innings fifty-maker Dasun Shanaka for just 6. The fast bowler angled a nice and full delivery into the right-hander and it then nipped away, finding the edge as the batsman went on a big flatfooted drive, wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock pouncing on the catch.

A chaotic run out, Vishwa Fernando (0) showing poor awareness of the situation as he went for a quick single with the injured Hasaranga, then completed another poor session for the Sri Lankans.