India beat South Africa by seven wickets at Newlands yesterday to complete the shortest Test match in history – with alles klaar inside just 107 overs.
Smashing the previous “record” of 109.2 overs between South Africa and Australia at the MCG in 1935, the SA camp was not happy with the wicket prepared by groundsman Braam Mong.
Bowled out for 55 in the first innings and 176 in the second yesterday, with Aiden Markram contributing 106, SA staged a mini comeback by bowling India out for 153 on the first day before the visitors got home with seven wickets left (80/3) shortly after lunch on Day Two.
In the end, SA’s decision to bat first backfired on a track that captain Dean Elgar, playing in his final Test, described as a “ripper” and one that “played totally different to what everyone thought it would”.
Proteas coach Shukri Conrad – a former Western Province mentor – adds: “I thought I knew it [the ground] very well… [and] that was completely out of character.
“You gather all the information either through your experience having coached here, players having played here and speaking to various people and then you stack up accordingly.
“Then everything goes out the window when you encounter a surface like this.
“I don’t know what people want me to come out and say, whether it was a rubbish wicket or not, but you only need to look at the scores – you only need to look at one-and-a-half days of Test cricket and the way they chased a little target of 80 and it’s a sad state when you need more luck than skill to survive in a Test match.
“All the ethics and value of Test cricket went out the window…
“You ain’t gonna win Test matches scoring 50-odd, lowest total ever and we’ve got to own it and we own it.
“But ja, it wasn’t great – both the cricket and the wicket.”
The defeat means the teams drew the two-match series, after South Africa won the first Test at Centurion Park by an innings and 32 runs.
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