South Africa’s Test win in Wellington against New Zealand was
perhaps their most defining Test victory since their mighty win over Australia
at Perth November last year. I used the word defining so as to emphasize the
circumstances under which this victory was obtained and the persona who
inspired this victory. Take you back to lunch on Day 2 and South Africa were in
jeopardy at 104/6. Amla, Du Plessis, Duminy; they had all gone and onus was on
two young boys in the form of T Bavuma and Quinton de Kock to rescue the
Proteas from this potential match losing situation. But as young budding
sportspersons, you always dream of thriving under such challenging situations
and coming out of it victorious and Quinton de Kock and T Bavuma certainly rose
to the occasion and delivered when it mattered the most. Their styles of innings
were distinct but both being equally effective with Bavuma scoring a patient 89
while Quinton de Kock being the aggressor, finishing with 91. Now, here is an
interesting aspect of which we can take note of, with the kind of knocks that the likes
of Bavuma and de Kock are playing of-late, we wonder whether is this the time
where the baton of South Africa’s batting in Tests which was responsibly
shouldered by Amla & de Villiers for so many years is being passed on to
these young shoulders as the aging warriors gradually begin their journeys into the
sunset. It may be far too early to call but Quinton de Kock certainly has the
potential to fill in Boucher’s shoes and in fact better him down the line as
his numbers suggest so far. Then in the bowling department, there is no Dale
Steyn for quite a while now and you could hardly realize it, but they have got
the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and you could sense that the fate of
South African Cricket looks safe in the hands of this young talent. The Proteas
team is led by Faf du Plessis, who is not only new to his captaincy role but also
relatively new to Test Cricket, but, is quite influential not only with the bat
but also as a skipper as the team seems to be excelling under his leadership.
The fact that many of the recent South African Test victories have been
inspired by the performances of their youngsters brings a lot of fresh air in the
Proteas camp and augurs well moving into the future. This team will be tested
and its depth would be sternly scrutinized, especially in the sub-continent,
but as of now, they are playing exceptionally well and they have done well in
Australia and also in New Zealand so far.
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| T Bavuma & Quinton de Cock- Chief Architects of South Africa's inspired Victory! |
