Cricket Highlights, 8 March: South Africa vs West Indies (2^nd Test)

South Africa vs West Indies (2nd Test) – Highlights

South Africa won the second and final Test of the series by a huge margin of 284 runs in Johannesburg on Wednesday (March 8). The hosts beat the West Indies by 2-0 in the two-match series. Temba Bavuma took the title of man of the match with great batting in that match. On the other hand, Aiden Markram made his name in Man of the Series.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first and invited the West Indies to bowl. South Africa scored 320 in the first innings. Out of which Aiden Markram scored 96 runs off 139 balls with the help of 17 fours. Tony De Zorzi scored 85 off 155 balls. He also hit 11 boundaries. Besides, Dean Elgar scored 42 runs, Captain Temba Bavuma scored 28 runs, Ryan Rickelton scored 22 runs, Heinrich Klaasen scored 17 runs, and Wiaan Mulder scored 12 runs.

Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, and Gudakesh Motie took 3 wickets each for West Indies. Jason Holder also took 1 wicket.

In response, West Indies were bowled out for just 251 runs. In their 1st innings, no one could cross the 30 mark except for Jason Holder. Jason Holder scored 81 off 117 balls with the help of 8 fours and 4 sixes. Besides, Roston Chase scored 28 runs, Kyle Myers 29 runs, Joshua Da Silva 26 runs, Kraig Brathwaite 17 runs, Raymon Reifer 15 runs, Kemar Roach 13 runs, and Gudakesh Motie scored 17 runs. In the end, they managed to score 251 runs with 14 runs extra.

Gerald Coetzee took 3 wickets for South Africa. Simon Harmer and Kagiso Rabada took 2 wickets each. Apart from this, Wiaan Mulder and Keshav Maharaj took 1 wicket each.

With a first-inning lead of 69 runs, the home team South Africa found itself in a very precarious position in front of the Caribbean bowlers. 5 wickets were lost for 103 runs. Opener Dean Elgar returned with 5 runs. Tony De Zorzi, who came in to bat at number three, got out for just 1 run.

Aiden Markram, another opener, left the game after scoring 18 runs. The battle against the Caribbean bowlers was then initiated by Temba Bavuma on his own. He has Ryan Rickelton (10 runs), Henrich Klaasen (14 runs), and Wiaan Mulder as his partner. Mulder scored 42 runs off 71 balls. Bavuma’s partnership with him totaled 103 runs, which was somewhat more.

After Mulder got out, Temba Bavuma paired with Simon Harmer. Harmer got out for 19 runs after playing 59 balls. On the other hand, Temba Bavuma played the captaincy innings. With that, the Proteas gradually set a huge target in front of the visiting West Indies.

By the conclusion of the third day, Bavuma was unbeaten on 171. By the end of the third day, South Africa’s score, based on his outstanding innings, was 287 for 7. The lead stands at 365 runs.

After coming down to bat on the fourth day, however, Temba Bavuma could not advance very far. Adding only 1 run to the previous 171 runs, he returned with a catch by Kemar Roach off Jason Holder. Even Keshav Maharaj could not go far. After only 10 runs were scored, he was out.

South Africa scored 321 runs on Bavuma’s innings of 172 runs off 280 balls with 20 boundaries. Jason Holder and Kyle Myers took 3 wickets each for West Indies.

Then West Indies faced a target of 391 runs. The Caribbean lost 6 wickets for 34 runs against the Protea bowlers. From there, with Josua de Silva’s 34, Jason Holder’s 19, and Alzarri Joseph’s 18 runs, the tourists crossed the hundred mark. They were all out for just 106 runs in 35.1 overs. Finally, they had to leave the field with a huge loss.  

South Africa’s Simon Harmer and Gerald Coetzee took three wickets each.

South Africa vs West Indies Scoreboard

South Africa (1st innings) – 320/10 (92.2)

West Indies (1st innings) – 251/10 (79.3)

South Africa (2nd innings) – 321/10 (100.4)

West Indies (2nd innings) – 106/10 (35.1)

Result – South Africa won by 284 runs

Player of the match – Temba Bavuma

Player of the series – Aiden Markram

Temba Bavuma

South Africa vs West Indies Playing XIs