On this day in 2018: Kagiso Rabada’s fiery spell blows away Australia

Exactly on this day in 2018, Kagiso Rabada came up with one of his best performances in international cricket, taking 11 wickets to help South Africa thrash Australia by six wickets in the Port Elizabeth Test. It was the same series that was marred by the sandpaper gate. But before the ball-tampering scandal unfolded, South Africa and Australia were involved in a fierce battle on the field.

South Africa had their back against the wall before the start of the Test. The Proteas were 1-0 down in the four-match series and knew that another loss would extend a winless home streak against Australia which went back to 1970. The hosts were searching for a hero to hand them a much-needed victory and Rabada rose to the occasion like he often does.

The right-arm pacer picked up 11 wickets in the match, including 6-54 in Australia’s second innings of 239 that set the home side just 101 to win. Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and decided to bat first. The visitors, however, could not make the most of winning a good toss and were all out for just 243 with Rabada wreaking havoc.

At 98 for 0, Australia were off to a solid start before Vernon Philander gave South Africa two quick breakthroughs by dismissing Cameron Bancroft and Usman Khawaja to reduce the visitors to 104 for 2. 13 runs later, Lungi Ngidi dismissed David Warner to put the hosts on top before Smith and Shaun Marsh steadied the ship.

The duo took the score past the 150-run mark for Australia and had got the starts to score big. But just when it looked like Australia would put a big first innings total, Rabada took five wickets in no time to reduce Australia to 182 for 8 from 161 for 3. Australia were eventually all out for 243.

With the bat, South Africa were reeling at 183 for 6 at one stage but an unbeaten knock of 126 from AB de Villiers helped them post 382 and take a healthy lead of 139 runs. In the second innings, Rabada did even better and picked up 6 wickets. At 173 for 4, Australia were well placed and were looking set to give the home side a challenging total.

However, Rabada dismissed Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in quick succession to reduce the visitors to 204 for 8. Earlier in the innings, he had sent back David Warner and Shaun Marsh cheaply to reduce Australia to 87 for 4 before Khawaja and Mitchell steadied the ship. Australia were eventually all out for 239. Set a target of 101 runs, South Africa chased it down inside 23 overs to draw level in the series.