South Africa's Inspired Victory inspired by their Youngsters!

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. 

T Bavuma & Quinton de Cock- Chief Architects of South Africa's inspired Victory!