Proteas thrilled with first Test win over Windies: ‘It feels good,’ says Bavuma

The Proteas were thrilled to get off to the perfect start in their two Test series against the West Indies by claiming a comfortable 87-run win in the first Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.

The Test was decided in less than three days after bowlers dominated proceedings, leading to the early finish.

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It is a strong start and the Proteas will be eager to secure a Test series win in the second Test, which gets under way at the Wanderers next week, after they lost their last two Test series, 2-0 against Australia down under and 2-1 against England in England.

‘Feels good’

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma, in his first game as Test captain, was happy with the result saying: “It definitely feels good. This is what we came to do. We obviously wanted to start off the series well and to win it in that fashion is very positive.”

The Proteas started the match batting first, and thanks to Aiden Markram’s 115, were eventually bowled out for 342 on the second morning.

The Windies then responded with 212 all out during the final session on day two, as Anrich Nortje claimed 5/36 to lead the impressive bowling effort, giving them 130-run first innings lead.

The Proteas almost blew their advantage as they crashed to 49/4 at the close on day two, and were then bowled out in the morning of day three for 116, with Markram top scoring again with 47, leaving the Windies 247-runs to win.

Kagiso Rabada

However, Kagiso Rabada was in ruthless form, making vital breakthroughs throughout the Windies innings, as he claimed figures of 6/50 to help bowl the visitors out for 159.

“It was a crazy hour there at the end (of the second day) where I thought we really let go of the advantage and all the good work that we did,” admitted Bavuma.

“With that being said we knew that we would have an opportunity today with the bat to pile on some more runs and put up a more than respectable target.

“That didn’t really happen but knowing that we had runs on the board and understanding that the wicket didn’t seem to get easier, as there was some variable bounce, we knew our (bowling) attack was well equipped to exploit that.”

Poor batting

Windies captain Kraigg Brathwaite admitted that their poor batting performance was the cause of their loss, with Raymon Reifer (62) top scoring in the first innings and Jermain Blackwood (79) in the second.

Their bowlers however impressed, with five wicket hauls for Alzarri Joseph (5/81) and Kemar Roach (5/47) over the two Proteas innings.

“I think as a batting unit only batting just over a hundred overs in both innings that was where we missed out. In the first innings especially we were going well and I thought we should have batted at least 90 overs and that would have put us in a way better position,” explained Brathwaite.

“Some balls were keeping low from the same spot, while some were getting bounce. So I think it (the wicket) had a lot in it for the bowlers, but I still think we could have done way better as a batting unit.”