Quinton de Kock (Lee Warren/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Duanne Olivier struck twice in his second over of the morning with successive deliveries to put the Proteas well on their way to a 107-run victory and a 3-0 series clean sweep against Pakistan at the Wanderers on Monday.
The visitors needed at least one of their remaining three specialist batsmen to score a century to have any chance of pulling off an upset victory.
But Olivier virtually eliminated that possibility by first dismissing Pakistan’s best batsman, Babar Azam (21), and then followed with the dismissal of captain Sarfraz Ahmed (0) next ball.
When Vernon Philander dismissed the remaining major batsman, Shafaq Azad (65), the writing was on the wall and, although there was spirited resistance from Shadab Khan (47 not out), the Proteas wrapped up the innings in the morning session, requiring just one extra over when they claimed the additional half-hour to finish the contest.
Pakistan were all out for 273 in their second inning, with the seven remaining wickets falling for a meagre 120 runs.
Wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock finished with seven dismissals in the match to go along with his second innings century to be named man-of-the-match. He also finished the leading runs scorer in the series and the only one to score more than 250 runs.
Olivier won a one-horse race to be named man-of-the-series. His 24 wickets were only one shy of the South African record for a three-match series and came at a cost of only 14.62 runs per wicket.
He took 11 wickets in the first Test, five in the second and eight in the third. He had one six-wicket haul, two five-wicket hauls and one four-wicket haul.
The focus now switches to the five-match one-day international series starting at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. — Sport 24
Scores in brief:
South Africa 262 (Markram 90, De Bruyn 49, Faheem 3/57) and 303 (De Kock 129, Amla 71, Shadab 3/41)
Pakistan 185 (Sarfraz 50, Babar 49, Olivier 5/51) and 273(Shafiq 65, Olivier 3/74, Rabada 3/75)