South Africa wrapped up the 2nd Test on Day 4 by 10 wickets to clinch a 2-0 victory against Pakistan.
It was another fantastic day at Newlands. Pakistan were looking to continue their consistent batting from Day 3. They finished with 213-1 on day 3 with a deficit of 208.
The hosts were looking to pick up more wickets, especially in the first session, as they only took one towards the end of Day 3 after enforcing the follow-on.
During the first session, South Africa missed many chances to take wickets due to dropped catches in the slips.
No balls have also been an issue for the South African bowling attack, especially for Kagiso Rabada with him overstepping 17 times. This took his no-ball tally to 50 in the last six Test matches. An area the Proteas would want to improve before the final.
By the end of the first session, South Africa managed to take 2 wickets with bowling from Rabada and Jansen. The score at lunch was 312-3
After lunch, in the middle of the 81st over, the new ball was taken by South Africa and that gave the bowlers an immediate boost with Rabada nicking off Saud Shakeel in the next over.
Another one came in the next over, this time from Kwena Maohaka, getting Pakistan’s standout batter Shan Masood who scored 145 runs from 251 balls. He was dismissed via lbw which was originally given not out on the field. It was later overturned after going upstairs.
The decision to take the new ball proved to be a good choice for the South Africans.
They started to find the pads of the Pakistan batsmen more often and they were starting to look a lot more threatening.
At the end of the second session, Pakistan were 398-5 with a deficit of just 23. They were looking to come out after tea and get rid of the rest of the remaining deficit so that they could put runs on the board to have a lead.
After tea, the hosts were looking to wrap things up, South Africa finally bowled Pakistan out with wickets from Maharaj and Rabada. Pakistan didn’t give up and did put up a fight, but their efforts were in vain.
The standout batters from Pakistan’s second innings were Shan Masood who scored 145 off 251 balls and Babar Azam who scored 81 off 124 balls.
South Africa’s standout bowlers in the second innings were Keshav Maharaj whose figures were 3-137 and Kagiso Rabada whose figures were 3-115
Pakistan led by 57 when they were bowled out which meant South Africa needed 58 runs to win.
Beddingham didn’t waste any time and blitzed his way to a 30-ball 44 and helped South Africa to a 10-wicket victory with a day to spare.
