Rabada rips through England as SA regain some pride

Victory means the Proteas regain some pride after being skittled for 83 on their way to defeat in the previous Test at the Wanderers.

Published : Jan 26, 2016 15:18 IST , Centurion

Kagiso Rabada, who is 20, became the youngest South African to take 10 or more wickets in a Test, surpassing Hugh Tayfield, who was 23 when he achieved the feat.
Kagiso Rabada, who is 20, became the youngest South African to take 10 or more wickets in a Test, surpassing Hugh Tayfield, who was 23 when he achieved the feat.
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Kagiso Rabada, who is 20, became the youngest South African to take 10 or more wickets in a Test, surpassing Hugh Tayfield, who was 23 when he achieved the feat.

Kagiso Rabada starred again as South Africa finished the series with England on a high by claiming victory in the fourth and final Test by 280 runs on day five.

> Full scorecard and ball-by-ball details

England resumed on 52 for the loss of three wickets at Centurion on Tuesday, with an unlikely victory target of 382 a very distant prospect, but lost their last seven wickets for 43 runs in just over an hour to crumble to 101 all out.

Having taken 7-112 in the first innings, Rabada returned 6-32 second time around. His match figures of 13-144 represent the best by a South African on home soil, as well as trumping Mitchell Johnson's Test-best 12-127 on this ground.

At 20-year-old, Rabada also became the youngest South African to take 10 wickets in a Test, surpassing Hugh Tayfield, who was 23 when he achieved the feat against Australia in 1952.

Victory means the Proteas regain some pride after being skittled for 83 on their way to defeat in the previous Test at the Wanderers.

England, perhaps lacking motivation with the series already sewn up, collapsed in meek fashion to bring an unsatisfactory close to an otherwise promising Test tour.

James Taylor and Joe Root strode to the crease in the morning, but the former was soon on his way in the third over of the day as he gloved a short ball from Morne Morkel (3-36) through to Quinton de Kock for 24.

Root (20) fell in the very next over, driving loosely at Dane Piedt (1-11) and edging a regulation chance to Dean Elgar at slip.

It looked as though Jonny Bairstow (14) had a lucky escape when Rabada overstepped in inducing an edge to captain AB de Villiers in the cordon, but the wicketkeeper-batsman nicked the very next ball through to De Kock behind the stumps.

That left England in disarray on 83-6, and things went from bad to worse in the next over as Ben Stokes (10) holed out to the midwicket boundary off Morkel.

Moeen Ali was subsequently left with the tail, but Rabada was in a hurry to get through them.

Chris Woakes (5) and Stuart Broad (2) were caught behind the wicket before James Anderson was given out lbw first ball following a review as Rabada delivered yet another sign of his burgeoning talent.

Cook focuses on positives despite 'limp' end to series

England captain Alastair Cook remained focused on the positives of a series win over South Africa despite a heavy defeat in the fourth and final Test. Cook's men came into the clash at Centurion with the series already secure thanks to victories at Kingsmead and the Wanderers.

Resuming on the final day on 52 for three, England were quickly skittled for 101 by Kagiso Rabada as South Africa wrapped up a convincing success by 280 runs to salvage some pride.

Although disappointed with the manner of his side's demise, Cook was able to reflect positively on the series as a whole.

"It was a limp batting performance which sums it up perfectly," he said in his post-match presentation. "We spoke about trying to build a partnership to start with, with them being a bowler down maybe, but it proves sometimes you can talk too much and we didn't back that up with any actions today."

"It's been a disappointing five days, the way we've played, we haven't quite been on it. Credit to South Africa, we weren't at the races. But we'll enjoy today, enjoy the moment, winning the series away from home which not many people thought we could do."

"We have the ability to change games very quickly if we're struggling with the bat, we can change the game quickly. Or with the ball we get on a roll and it's hard to stop us, it makes us a dangerous side to play against. I can't really fault the lads too much, we're standing here having won 2-1, they've done well but it shows how much work we still have to do. Credit to the lads and to our supporters, who put a smile on our faces, even when we lose as badly as we did today."

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