Player of the Match
Player of the Match
2520dThe Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy

South Africa wrap up four-day Test in two days

Morne Morkel and Keshav Maharaj were South Africa's first and second-innings bowling heroes as Zimbabwe folded for 68 and 121 in a combined 72.4 overs

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

AK Markram
AK Markram
125(204) 14x4 - 2x6
Control %93%
  • Productive Shot
  • defended
  • 21 runs
  • 1x4 - 0x6
4 2 7 22 26 11 15 38
AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers
53(65) 5x4 - 1x6
Control %89%
  • Productive Shot
  • pull
  • 18 runs
  • 2x4 - 1x6
0 2 8 1 9 0 14 19

Best performances - Bowlers

M Morkel
M Morkel
O11
M5
R21
W5
Eco1.90
RHB
OFFLEG
2W
1W1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
KA Maharaj
KA Maharaj
O17.3
M5
R59
W5
Eco3.37
RHB
OFFLEG
1W4W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Match Details

Toss

South Africa , elected to bat first

Player Of The Match

Series result

South Africa won the one-off match

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

13.30 start, Lunch 15.30-16.10, Tea 18.10-18.30, Close 20.30

Match days

26,27 December 2018 - day/night match (4-day match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Commentator: Sreshth Shah

6.26pm That's all from Port Elizabeth. Only 907 balls in this Test as South Africa complete a comfortable innings victory. Slightly damp finish to this landmark game, but that's how it goes sometimes. Lots for South Africa to be happy about, ahead of their series against India. For Zimbabwe, back to the drawing board. Here's Karthik's report for you to catch up on. For now, it's good bye from Varun Shetty and myself. Hope you enjoyed ESPNcricinfo's coverage of this (sic) four-day Test. Tada!

6.11pm Time for the presentation. Markram or Morkel (or Maharaj) for Man of the Match? Mmm. Let's find out.

First up, the Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer. He says: "We knew it was always going to be tough. When we saw how the ball moved around under the lights, we knew it was tough, especially with their attack. But we prepared, and mentally, too, but the end of the day they were too good for us. Against Sri Lanka and West Indies, they were flat wickets. So this was more about gearing up mentally and tightening our techniques, which let us down. I don't think we were overwhelmed by the atmosphere. We were surprised seeing the ball move so much, and we didn't assess the conditions. Just one of those things. We play a tri-series against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in January, then Dubai and then the qualifiers. Work to do."

Next, the winning captain, AB de Villiers. He says: "Happy to return. You could see I was enjoying myself. Nice to get some runs, would've liked some more. Always a good crowd here, India next so taking some confidence out of this. My back is okay, not so bad at the moment. De Kock should be okay, the scans didn't show too much damage. He just needs some rest. Faf will be back for the India series, and they will all be fit so our selectors will have the good problem of finding just the XI. We bowled exceptionally well, we were quite happy with that spicy wicket. Still had to do the basics well, landed the ball in good areas for long spells. The slip-ers and myself were in the game all the time. Goes well with some time on our legs ahead of the India series. We lost a lot of late wickets, but we structured our innings well. Aiden Markram's in great form, and it doesn't seem like he's losing touch. Temba was good too. Overall, happy with our batting. The ball moves about late in day-night Tests, so it's important not to lose wickets in the evening. It's just about having the teams adapt, and understand the structures."

Now, the Man of the Match. The award goes to Aiden Markram, for his 125 in the first innings. He says: "Pretty tough wicket, but as a batting unit we had the best of the conditions. Was good to get stuck in there. It's been a good start to my career, enjoyed every minute of it. There are tough times and easy times, and helps you grow as a person. Happy to take my opportunity. Learnt more about my game, my role, my strengths and to avoid my weaknesses. You learn a lot when you're out in the middle, so that's what I wanted to do. It got easier as we batted, but I never felt in. Was a tough wicket, but got easier the more time one spends in the middle. Looking forward to the India series a lot. Very exciting for me, and it's how you want to test yourself. Want to fight against the best teams in the world, and there's a lot of good players in our team. Should be exciting."

Jigar: "South Africa would feel they are deprived of not enough match practice before India test match."

6:05pm We're done, 15 minutes before the end of session No. 5. This is the least number or balls South Africa have needed to take 20 wickets in a Test. It was also their lowest first innings total in an innings win - 309 for 9 declared. They were still batting at this time yesterday. More such bizzare stats in our bulletin after this game. Zimbabwe finds themselves on the wrong end of all of them. A pity after they practically flattened South Africa when the lights came on yesterday - remember, they'd taken 5 for 37 when South Africa decided to declare. Completely outplayed after that, and making it very clear how much they are in need of cricket at this level. A spirited performance followed by a very painful date with gravity. The lights didn't even need to come on a second time.

42.3
W
Maharaj to Muzarabani, OUT, full at off stump, swipes across the line, misses it and loses his off stump. That's the match.

B Muzarabani b Maharaj 10 (13m 9b 1x4 1x6) SR: 111.11

42.2
0
Maharaj to Muzarabani, no run, full and dropping at leg stump. Steps out and cops it on the pad after missing the flick
42.1
0
Maharaj to Muzarabani, no run, full, dipping at off stump, spinning away from the batsman's wild swing

END OF OVER:
42 | 4 Runs | ZIM: 121/9

  • Graeme Cremer18 (37b)
  • Blessing Muzarabani10 (6b)
  • Vernon Philander7-3-10-1
  • Keshav Maharaj17-5-59-4
41.6
0
Philander to Cremer, no run, good length, swinging away late at an off stump line. Tapped into the covers off the outside half
41.5
0
Philander to Cremer, no run, full and just outside off, pushed into the off side off the front foot
41.4
0
Philander to Cremer, no run, back of a length outside off, tapped to extra cover

A short finish

1

No. of Tests to be completed in fewer balls in last 50 years than this Test which had only 907 balls. The Sharjah Test of 2002 between Pakistan and Australia last only 893 balls.

Fifth lowest

4

No. of smaller Test totals for Zimbabwe, than the 68 in this game. This is also the lowest total for any team this year.

Long gap

2012

Last time Morne Morkel took a five-wicket haul in Tests, before today's match. He had picked it against Australia at Adelaide in November 2012. His last five-for at home was in December 2010.

Session of wickets

88/9

Score in the final session on first day. In first two sessions, 251 runs were scored for loss of four wickets while the last session saw 9 wickets for 88 runs in 29 overs.

Solid beginning

380

Runs for Markram from his four Test innings, the fifth-most for any batsman. Javed Miandad leads the chart with 419 runs while the previous best among SA batsmen was 311 runs by Rudolf.

Excellent start

3

No. of 50+ scores for Aiden Markram from his 4 Test innings. He scored 97, 15 and 143 in the series against Bangladesh and has scored another fifty in this match.

New format

1973

Last time a four-day Test was hosted, which was between New Zealand and Pakistan in Auckland.