Cape Town - Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Sunday congratulated the Proteas on their clean-sweep of the Test series against Pakistan and Graeme Smith for becoming the first captain in the history of the game to lead his country to 50 Test match victories.
“It is difficult to find new words to describe the way the Proteas have been playing,” commented CSA Acting CEO Jacques Faul. “There probably aren’t any more superlatives left in the dictionary to acknowledge both their brilliance and their consistency.
“The very fact that they lost two senior players - Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis - before the start of this Test speaks volumes not only for the team to be undeterred by setbacks of any kind but also of the quality of replacements that is coming through our various development pipelines.
Full scorecard
VIDEO: SA v Pakistan, third Test day 3, highlights
“It is remarkable that Kyle Abbott, a well deserved choice as man-of-the-match, is the third Protea to take five or more wickets on debut in the space of little more than a year.
“It is almost reaching the stage where we expect the likes of Dale Steyn, Hashim Amla and man-of-the-series AB de Villiers to turn out these brilliant performances game after game," said Faul
Faul also had only plaudits for skipper Smith, arguable SA's most successful Test skipper.
“As for Graeme he is now entering unchartered waters as the most successful captain of all time and it is wonderful that we have had players such as himself, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher who have written new chapters in the history of the game.
“I can say without fear of contradiction that South Africa is extremely proud of our Proteas both as a team and as individual role models. I would like to congratulate them on winning all five home Test matches against New Zealand and Pakistan, all inside four days, on extending their winning run to six Test matches and on setting a South African record of 15 Test matches without defeat."
The two-game T20 series starts at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday, followed by a five-match one-day series.
“It is difficult to find new words to describe the way the Proteas have been playing,” commented CSA Acting CEO Jacques Faul. “There probably aren’t any more superlatives left in the dictionary to acknowledge both their brilliance and their consistency.
“The very fact that they lost two senior players - Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis - before the start of this Test speaks volumes not only for the team to be undeterred by setbacks of any kind but also of the quality of replacements that is coming through our various development pipelines.
Full scorecard
VIDEO: SA v Pakistan, third Test day 3, highlights
“It is remarkable that Kyle Abbott, a well deserved choice as man-of-the-match, is the third Protea to take five or more wickets on debut in the space of little more than a year.
“It is almost reaching the stage where we expect the likes of Dale Steyn, Hashim Amla and man-of-the-series AB de Villiers to turn out these brilliant performances game after game," said Faul
Faul also had only plaudits for skipper Smith, arguable SA's most successful Test skipper.
“As for Graeme he is now entering unchartered waters as the most successful captain of all time and it is wonderful that we have had players such as himself, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher who have written new chapters in the history of the game.
“I can say without fear of contradiction that South Africa is extremely proud of our Proteas both as a team and as individual role models. I would like to congratulate them on winning all five home Test matches against New Zealand and Pakistan, all inside four days, on extending their winning run to six Test matches and on setting a South African record of 15 Test matches without defeat."
The two-game T20 series starts at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday, followed by a five-match one-day series.