Kyle Verreynne recorded his maiden international Test century as he remained not out on 136 off187 deliveries.
Follow Us
As the fourth day of the second Test match between South Africa and New Zealand reached its conclusion, the former is well and truly on top. Blistering performances by the likes of Kyle Verreynne and Kagiso Rabada with the bat propelled the Proteas to post a mammoth target of 426 runs for the Black Caps. New Zealand’s bowling until was, quite simply, humbled by Verreynne, who recorded his first international Test century on the day. Rabada played an unexpected yet scintillating cameo with the bat and proved his worth with the ball as well. In the second innings, the Proteas declared at a score of 354-9 with Verreynne and tail-ender Lutho Simpala unbeaten. New Zealand finished the day with a score of 94-4.
“When I did cross the mark and get to a hundred there was just that sense of pride and joy that I’d made a big impact towards pushing for a result,” Verreynne said. He also mentioned it was Rabada’s blistering knock that helped the team reach a highly competitive score.
Read More – Mayank Agarwal named new Punjab Kings captain ahead of IPL 2022
“He said to me he was going to stick around with me until I got my hundred but once he started hitting it I said he had to keep going. It was like he couldn’t miss. The way be played was probably one of the big factors in terms of the energy we took into our bowling. What he was able to do just gave everyone a bit of energy.”
Rabada scored a career-best 47 off just 34 deliveries. He hit four boundaries and four maximums in a knock that he will remember for a very long time. However, if there was any one star for the Proteas, it was Verreynne. The batter recorded his first ever international Test century as he remained not out on 136. It took him 187 deliveries in which he smashed 16 boundaries and one maximum. Rassie van der Dussen also played a fine knock for the Proteas as he scored 45 runs off 85 deliveries while Wiann Mulder chipped in with 35 off 91.
The Kiwi bowlers had to struggle throughout the day but there were a number of decent performances, statistically speaking. Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner all bagged two wickets each while Colin de Grandhomme picked one.
The Proteas stormed out of the gate with the ball, determined to win the match in the most dominant fashion. Rabada picked two wickets as he dismissed both Kiwi openers, Tom Latham and Will Young, while Keshav Maharaj’s spin worked its magic yet again. The top-ranked Test bowler dismissed Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell as his team looks all set for victory.
New Zealand still have Devon Conway out in the middle batting on 60, but it is highly unlikely that they will win, or even manage to tie the game from this point on.
