After winning the first Test by 118 runs, Australia suffered a 6-wicket defeat in the second Test against the hosts South Africa at Port Elizabeth. With the help of Kagiso Rabada and AB de Villiers’ heroic performances, South Africa secured a crucial victory and levelled the four-match Test series by the 1-1 margin after the second encounter.
Day 1
Australia decided to bat first after winning the toss. Australian openers provided a very good start as Cameron Bancroft and David Warner put 98-runs partnership for that wicket.
Since that opening wicket fell just before the lunch, Australian team failed to make any big partnerships as their wickets were falling in regular interval. While Warner and Bancroft scored 63 and 38 runs respectively, middle-order wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine (36) was the only other batsman to cross the 30-runs mark.
The Australian team was bundled out for 243 runs.
Among the South African bowlers, pacer Kagiso Rabada (5/96) picked up five wickets while the other pacers Vernon Philander (2/25) and Lungi Ngidi (3/51) took two and three wickets respectively.
At the end of the day, South Africa was batting on 39/1. While the opener Eiden Markram lost his wicket on 11 runs, another opener Dean Elger (11) and nightwatchman Rabada (17) were staying in the crease.
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Day 2
After Rabada was dismissed for 29 runs, Elger and Hasim Amla put 88-runs partnership for the third wicket before losing their back-to-back wickets.
Since then, AB de Villiers took the charge of that innings while the other middle order batsmen failed to provide support in that innings.
However, the lower-orders provided the important support to AB de Villiers.
At the end of the day, South Africa was batting on 263/7 while de Villiers (74) and Vernon Philander (14) were batting. South Africa was leading by 20 runs at that period.
Day 3
AB de Villiers continued his counter-attacking batting as he completed his century and remained unbeaten on 126 runs off 146 balls.
On the other hand, after Philander’s (36) dismissal, Keshav Maharaj continued the supporting role with 30 runs knock.
As a result, South Africa managed to put 382 runs on the board before losing their all wickets. At the end of the first innings fights, South Africa had the 139-runs lead.
Among the Aussie bowlers, Pat Cummins (3/79) picked up three wickets while Josh Hazlewood (2/98) and Mitchell Marsh (2/26) clinched two wickets each. Also, Mitchell Starc (1/110) and Nathan Lyon (1/58) picked up a piece of wicket each.
In the second innings, the top-order Australian batsmen failed to manage big scores. After 86/4, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh put an important 87-runs partnership for the fifth wicket.
Just before the end of the day, Australia lost Khawaja (79) as they finished the day with 180/5. Marsh was unbeaten on 39 runs along with Tim Paine (5) while Australia had just 41 runs lead.
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Day 4
South Africa did not wait too long for their victory. Australia was bowled out for 239 runs while Paine was not out on 28 runs.
Once again, Rabada (6/54) was the destroyer as he dismissed six batsmen in that innings. Apart from that, Ngidi (2/24) and Maharaj (2/90) got two wickets each.
The hosts had to chase only 101 runs for securing their victory which they got after losing 4 wickets. While de Villiers (28) and Amla (27) were the top two scorers in that innings, Cummins (1/13), Hazlewood (1/26) and Lyon (2/44) were the wicket-takers for Australia in that innings.
South Africa won this match by 6 wickets and levelled the series by the 1-1 margin while Rabada won the Player of the match award.
Now look at some Twitter reactions of the match
On AB de Villiers’ knock
When AB de Villiers gets going, it's tough for the opposition captain to set field. #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/bbxvENMoHK
— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) March 11, 2018
What a superstar AB de Villiers truly is. Leaving statistics to one side, I still think he's the best and most dynamic batsman in world cricket. #SAvAUS
— Adam White (@White_Adam) March 11, 2018
First there are Good batsmen 👍
Then there are Best Batsmen 👌
Then comes AB de Villiers 🔥@ABdeVilliers17#LivingLegend #SAvAUS— Keyur Mestry (@KeyurMestry) March 10, 2018
What an absolutely brilliant innings from AB de Villiers. SA have hot a handy lead. Looks a good test match on offer #SAvsAUS
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) March 11, 2018
On Kagiso Rabada’s destroying bowling
Steyn was the best SA bowler in 2010-2014. These are Rabada days now cuz of steyn's injuries.
— S.A.H (@SAHTPW1) March 12, 2018
20 years down the line, I'll be glad to have my life lived alongside Kagiso Rabada. — feeling thankful
— Vivek Dwivedi (@dxthsm) March 12, 2018
Great work by Rabada and bad luck Aussie….hope u win the next game
— Najeeb Hussain (@NajeebHPCRM) March 12, 2018
rabada yaar kya toofan hai ye
— ren (@kaminapun) March 12, 2018
About this Test match
Beautiful and remarkable test match #SAvsAUS. Indeed the kind of test match which is a great exhibition for the game. Special knock by @ABdeVilliers17 and great 11fer for @NgidiLungi
— Kavindra Joshi (@kooljoshi) March 12, 2018
Well played Proteas. Many congratulations to standout performers @ABdeVilliers17 and @KagisoRabada25. You both just made Kangaroos look miserable in this match. Hope they do a turnaround in Cape Town. #SAvsAUS
— Chetan Kapania (@ChetanKapania) March 12, 2018
#SAvsAUS @KagisoRabada25 well done on a great match…remember its better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life…keep up the agression! 😠😠😠 #sscricket #proteafire
— Jacques de Lange (@johnyblue77) March 12, 2018
South Africa a stromed back to win the 2nd test. The main heros of the test @ABdeVilliers17 &@KagisoRabada25 incredible performance and it's beautifully set up the series level 1-1😍 #SAvsAUS
— venky (@alwaysvenkii) March 12, 2018
Congrats to #ProteaFire 🔥 and to @KagisoRabada25 for being man of the match! #11wickets #blackexcellence #SAvsAus #AusvsSA 🏏
— Theresa Mallinson (@tcmallinson) March 12, 2018
