The roar echoed off Table Mountain, flowed through Kirstenbosch and would have shook the tables of the brunch eaters in Observatory.
In the middle of Newlands, Ryan Rickelton stood with his arms aloft, bat in hand, his helmet perched on it. The noise continued for two minutes. It was spine-tingling.
Another sold-out crowd were celebrating Rickelton, sure — a remarkable innings, the first double hundred by a South African in nine years — but it felt like so much more.
The Proteas have struggled to earn the kind of affection that has belonged to the Springboks recently. The tone seemed to change after last week’s heart-stopping win in Centurion, and subsequent criticism of South Africa’s qualification for the World Test Championship final. This by uninformed ex-players from England and Australia which galvanised the public.
While a 2-0 series win is important for the players, there is a strong sense that this Test is also a celebration of them and this audience could best express their appreciation through their applause of Rickelton’s monumental effort.
“I thought he’d be so tired when I joined him at the crease, but he was so calm and looked like he could do this for ages. I wasn’t sure how to go about my innings initially, but the calmness he brought to that partnership was really good,” said Kyle Verryenne, who made his first Test hundred at his home ground.
In scoring 259, the eighth highest individual Test innings by a South African, Rickleton not only put his own name in the record books, but after the messy efforts in the first Test, showed that talk of South Africa’s improvement as a batting unit wasn’t fake.
Including the Bangladesh series in October, South African batters have made 11 centuries this season, three of those coming in the first innings here. Verreynne registered his third hundred in that period yesterday, while Temba Bavuma is in a magical run of form that has elevated him into the top 10 batters as ranked by the ICC.
“We’ve been really lucky that (Shukri Conrad) has backed us as a batting group. It’s not that we are undroppable, but we are confident that if we do our business, we will be backed by the coach,” said Verreynne.
The wicketkeeper/batter has shown over the course of a Test career, now in its 24th match, that he thrives when pressure is at its most intense, but yesterday that wasn’t the case, because of Rickelton.
“It wasn’t one of my more important innings from the team’s perspective, but personally it was really special for me,” he said.
He could enjoy himself, playing in front of his mother, Kim, and a number of other family members and friends, getting stuck into a lethargic Pakistan, who provided too many opportunities for him to play his favourite cut and pull shots.
Before yesterday’s 615 all out, the last time South Africa topped 600 was in 2020, and for an inexperienced batting unit, as the current one is, achieving such feats and being able to celebrate as Rickelton ticked off one landmark after another, will imbue enormous confidence.
His was an innings of high quality, blending attack, resolute defence and the ability to forge partnerships that broke Pakistan.
He was remorseless and along with captain Bavuma’s 106, Verreynne’s 100 and a swashbuckling 62 from Marco Jansen, put Pakistan in a position from which they will be very difficult to extricate themselves.
In 90 minutes before stumps, the tourists lost three wickets, two to Kagiso Rabada, who offered Shan Masood and Saud Shakeel tempting deliveries outside off-stump that they couldn’t resist, with David Bedingham snaring a pair of catches at first slip.
Kamram Ghulam, got into an awful mess and was bowled by Jansen.
Already a man down after opener Saim Ayub was ruled out of the remainder of the match with a fractured right ankle, the physical and mental toll they suffered after enduring more than 11 hours in the field and bowling more than 140 overs, is going to make saving this Test very hard.
“For us it’s about staying nice and patient,” Verreynne said of South Africa’s bowling plans for day three. “If you stay in the channel for long periods of time, loose shots are around the corner.”
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