The series was hyped as the battle for the No. 1 rank. South Africa have so far done enough to live upto their ranking. But things can change very rapidly when these two teams meet for the final time at the WACA. The 3rd Test starts on the 30th November. Let me finish with this small note, South Africa have never lost a Test match when their skipper scores a century and this was Smith's 26th Test ton.
As expected, Faf du Plessis the MoM fo his two outstanding contributions..
There will be changes from both sides at Perth. Watson should surely return for Quiney while Starc can be expected to fill in for the injured Pattinson. Will SA risk playing Tahir at the bouncy WACA? Will Kallis play the 3rd Test? A lot of questions needs to be answered.
Australia will ponder over about this draw. They had the match all but sewn up but could not find the killer touch. The pitch did stay true for the entire duration and the bowler's can't be blamed for the efforts. Lyon bowled 94 overs in the match while Siddle and Hilfenhaus sent down 54 and 64 overs respectively. The loss of Pattinson towards the end of the visitor's 1st innings hit them badly.
Relief for South Africa, they go to Perth with a 0-0 scoreline. It did not look like it when they were 45/4 mid-way through the fourth day. No praise can be enough for Faf du Plessis, he was just a replacement player for J P Duminy who got injured on the first day of the Gabba Test. Duminy said that his replacement would do a good job and du Plessis has made sure of that. 78 in the first innings and a superb rear-guard knock of 110 in the second innings. He joined AB de Villiers in the middle with the Aussie bowlers having tasted blood, soothed the nerves with a partnership that was very defensive but required at that stage. He did not lose focus even after the dismissal of Jacques Kallis as he marshalled the lower order quite superbly. A new star has been born, a pity that it took South Africa so late to realise that.
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