SOUTH AFRICA VS PAKISTAN , 2ND TEST ,CAPE TOWN , 2025: South Africa’s Domination: How They Sealed Top Spot in WTC with a Stunning 10-Wicket Victory Against Pakistan .
Shan Masood, the Pakistan captain, scored a brilliant century and Pakistan fought valiantly with the bat to overhaul the follow-on but a dominant South Africa breezed to a 10-wicket victory and a comprehensive 2-0 series victory at home. Pakistan batted for most of Day 4, with Masood scoring 145 and Salman Agha 48 and Mohammad Rizwan 41. However an imposing first-innings lead of 478 was never going to be enough, and South Africa chased down the 58 required in the end with little fuss. David Bedingham was the top scorer, making 44 off 30, as they chased down the target in only 7.1 overs. South Africa’s Domination: How They Sealed Top Spot in WTC with a Stunning 10-Wicket Victory Against Pakistan .
TOSS-
South Africa won the toss and chose to bat.
PLAYING XI-
South Africa Squad:
Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Kwena Maphaka
Pakistan Squad:
Shan Masood (c), Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Aghah, Aamer Jamal, Mir Hamza, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas
DAY 1-
It was a productive hour’s worth of play for South Africa, with Rickelton anchoring the effort. He punched a few crisp drives for regular boundaries as Aiden Markram also got underway with a couple of successive boundaries off Mir Hamza.
Rickelton kept scoring at a decent rate but the opening stand came to an end when Markram attempted to drive a Shahzad ball targeted outside off and edged it to the ‘keeper. Pakistan were much more disciplined with their line and length in the second hour but it didn’t help that the edges weren’t going to the slip cordon. But their persistence paid a reward as the next batter Wiaan Mulder departed caught behind to Abbas, who continued to bowl within the off-pitch channel with patience. Rickelton had brought up a fifty in the final over before the break but South Africa had suffered another succession of miseries, Stubbs to edge behind a Salman Agha delivery at the stroke of Lunch. South Africa crumbled from 61/0 to 72/3.
Rickelton came into the 90s with two consecutive fours off Shahzad, moved to 99 with a boundary off Mohammad Abbas. Bavuma kept most of the strike for the next couple of overs, which increased the sense of anticipation at the ground before Rickelton got to three figures with a glance off Agha for a four. The boundary also brought up the century stand, before Bavuma then tapped in a single off Abbas to reach fifty, as both batters went into the Tea break unbeaten. Rickelton and Bavuma scored at over 4 runs a session adding 112 runs in the session
Post-drinks, the pair brought up the double century partnership, while Bavuma walked into the 90s as Pakistan’s toil continued. It didn’t help either that Jamal bowled one Bavuma’s pads that he was able to tickle for a four to get to 97. He reached three figures with a single off Jamal, making it the first time that two batters had scored hundreds on the first day of a Test at Newlands since February 2013 when Younis Khan (111) and Asad Shafiq (111\*) both made tons. Eventually there was some relief for Pakistan as the huge stand was broken late in the day when the South Africa skipper edged an Agha delivery to the ‘keeper. Rickelton and David Bedingham carried South Africa to Stumps, 132 runs coming in a rare post-tea session of 30 overs.
DAY 2-
Rickelton initially blunted the new ball, which was due first up at the start of play but the visitors had a sight early with the wicket of David Bedingham. The left-hander then moved to 199 as he drove one fielderless past mid-off for four, then took a single off the very next ball to bring up his 200 in 266 deliveries.
Verreyne was on five when he survived a DRS appeal for LBW as the ball was going down leg on wickets and then hit a six to take them beyond the 350-run mark. Both batters plundered a six each in the second session to relieve the scoreboard pressure.
Verreynne had progressed to 99 with a glorious pull to mid-wicket and reached three figures with a single. His delight, however, didn’t last long as he holed out to deep-mid wicket while attempting a slog-sweep.
Then came Jansen, hitting 11 deliveries before he got off the mark, but he wasn’t beaten in any of his first 10 deliveries. Once he had settled in, he started to cash in on boundaries, making Abbas pay for errant lines.
Jansen kept going in Shahzad’s next over as he took 15 from the over, racing to 48. Before the wicket, Rickelton reached the 250-mark before Jansen reached his fifty off 42 balls – the fastest by any South African against Pakistan. But two overs before the Tea break, after hitting a couple of boundaries, Rickelton offered a tired shot to holing out to long-on on 259 — the fourth highest individual score by a South African in Tests.
That was followed by fiery opening spells from Kagiso Rabada and Jansen. The visitors suffered an agonizingly bad start when skipper Shan Masood edged to David Bedingham at first slip. Although Kamran Ghulam was taking his batting against Jansen and found the boundary ropes twice in the early overs, the South African soon got the better of the batter when he tempted him to chop one back onto his stumps. Ever-reliable for Pakistan Saud Shakeel, fell for nought as the hosts cranked the screws on Pakistan.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan kept the visitors at bay with an unbroken 65-run partnership.
DAY 3-
It was in response to Pakistan’s collapse in the first session when Azam fell five balls after the drinks break, strangled down the legside by Maphaka — the bowler’s first Test wicket — then took off in celebration around the outfield at Newlands. Mohammad Rizwan hit an innocuous shot and just chopped one on from Mulder back onto his stumps. Salman Ali Agha struck the ropes thrice in his brief 22-ball stay of 19 but was stumped off the bowling from Maharaj. From thereon, the hosts made full use to skittle out Pakistan for a mere 194.
Day 3 for Pakistan with the bat in their second innings at Newlands saw a possible bathtub for the South Africa bowlers in the shape of 205-run opening stand in the form of Shan Masood (102\*) and Babar Azam (81), with the home team having enforced the follow-on earlier in this the second Test. It was the second highest partnership by Pakistan for any wicket against South Africa in Tests, behind Asad Shafiq’s and Younis Khan’s 219-run stand on the same ground in 2013. The visitors had pulled South Africa’s lead down to 208 from 421 by stumps – a feat which seemed all but impossible after Pakistan was bowled out for 194 in their first innings.
They masterful showed a few nerves when he twice reached the nineties, but in terms of the hundred one was pressed to the enclosure through mid-on. But Azam lost his concentration when he got thick edge to gully while attempting a booming shot towards the end of the day’s play to give the hosts their lone breakthrough in the session. The nightwatchman Khurram Shahzad did not let his teams end up losing more wickets before Stumps.
DAY 4-
South Africa had picked up two key wickets in the first session including nightwatchman Khurram Shahzad and Kamran Ghulam. Marco Jansen sprinkled the extra bounce, which made Shahzad to push one tentatively to the point fielder, while Ghulam was set up so well by Rabada, with one too many outswingers before a nip-backer from the pace ace castled the batter’s stumps. However. Masood kept pushing from the far end.
Key wickets with the new ball at a little after Lunch, when South Africa gave a sense of what had been in store, sending Saud Shakeel and Masood off quite soon. Pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada had Shakeel, who had been shaping in as he did from around the wicket which the batter nicked to second-slip. In the next over, Maphaka trapped Masood LBW as the hosts asked the third umpire to check after it was given not-out on field by Nitin Menon. The ball has just hit Masood and flowed in hand over the off-stump so straight, it would go, point off-stump, flush. The two scalps put the game firmly in the hosts’ hands at the start of the final session, even in the face of a resilient partnership from Rizwan and Agha.
Pakistan were still in a position to stage a fightback after Tea with Salman Ali Agha and Mohammad Rizwan at the crease. The former survived an LBW shout two overs in, getting his bat down in the nick of time before the ball crashed into his pads, while Rizwan also hit a four off Keshav Maharaj to bring up the 400 runs, the bowler still wicketless at that stage. However, the partnership of 88 ended as Rizwan pushed forward on a delivery from Maharaj that got him out to Temba Bavuma at cover in a soft dismissal.
Two balls later Aamer Jamal was dropped by Aiden Markram at first-slip and made amends with a boundary in that over to level the scores. Agha survived an LBW appeal courtesy the use of DRS, but was slipped out two balls later, once again off Maharaj. Jamal and Mir Hamza got into the act against Kagiso Rabada as well who got milked for a few boundaries, with the latter hitting a gorgeous lofted shot straight down the ground for six off a length ball Shortly after Pakistan’s lead surpassed 50, and with batters at different ends of a brief contest, both fell in five balls of each other, leaving the hosts with a modest target to pursue.
Brief Scores:
South Africa 615 (Ryan Rickelton 259, Temba Bavuma 106, Kyle Verreynne 100; Mohammad Abbas 3-94, Salman Ali Agha 3-148) & 58/0 (Davod Bedingham 47\*, Aiden Markram 14\*) defeated Pakistan 194 (Babar Azam 58, Mohammad Rizwan 46; Kagiso Rabada 3-55, Keshav Maharaj 2-14) & 478 (Shan Masood 145, Babar Azam 81; Marco Jansen 2-85) by 10 wickets .