Centurion : Kagiso Rabada added another chapter of achievement to his stellar young career when he claimed his first seven-wicket haul at the highest level to give the Castle Lager Proteas a major advantage after three days of the final Sunfoil Test match at SuperSport Park on Sunday.
His figures of 7/112 followed his first ever five-wicket haul in Test cricket in the previous Test match at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium where he took 5/78. He has now taken 16 wickets in the series which is just one behind the current leader, Stuart Broad.
His analysis included taking three key wickets in the space of 12 deliveries – and they were big ones in Joe Root, James Taylor and Jonny Bairstow – that broke the back of the England innings as the visitors went from 208/3 to 211/6. Rabada then dismissed the other key middle-order batsman, Ben Stokes, with the second new ball to complete the destruction.
His performance gave the Proteas a first innings lead of 133 runs which had been extended to 175 runs by the close for the loss of Dean Elgar’s wicket. It was the first time in the series that the Proteas had produced a dominant first innings performance both with bat and ball.
The significant factor of this Test match has been the fact that the Proteas have scored three centuries while England’s batting has only managed three half-centuries. Both Alastair Cook and Root made 76 while Moeen Ali rallied the lower-order with his innings of 61.
The only setback for the Proteas on arguably their best day of the series was the loss of Kyle Abbott with a reported hamstring strain. His participation in England’s second innings will be vital as otherwise the Proteas will be down to two seamers and three specialist bowlers in all.
As it was, Rabada had to bowl 29 overs, most of them in fairly long spells.
With two days to go the Proteas will want to pile on the runs on the fourth day and also occupy the crease for a considerable length of time as the more wear and tear there is in the pitch the harder it will be for England to survive in the final innings.
The England bowlers exploited lively bounce at the start of the South African second innings with Hashim Amla taking a nasty blow on his bottom hand that required running repairs.