Kwena Maphaka who becomes the youngest South African to make his debut in men’s international cricket bagged his maiden test wicket by dismissing Babar Azam in the Cape Town test.
At 18 years and 137 days old, Kwena Maphaka became the youngest South African to make his debut in men’s international cricket, while still completing school at St Stithians College, Johannesburg. He made his T20I debut on 23 August 2024 after an injury ruled Lungi Ngidi out of the series.
Maphaka made his international test debut in the second test of the Pakistan tour of South Africa 2024 -25 played between January 3 and 7 at Newlands, Cape Town.
In the first inning of the Cape Town test, Kwena Maphaka dismissed Babar Azam who looked in fine touch after securing his 28th test half-century. The incident took place in the fifth delivery of the 35th over. Though it wasn’t a wicket-taking delivery, a miscalculation from the right-hander cost him the wicket.
With the dismissal, 18-year-old Kwena Maphaka scripted a record for dismissing Babar Azam in all three formats.
Encouraging to see 18 year old Kwena Maphaka getting his first test wicket on debut. His first test scalp was the dangerous Pakistani batter Babar Azam. pic.twitter.com/kAwpIl6e1k
— Ratombo 🇿🇦 (@stoneman_o) January 5, 2025
Speaking of the second test at Cape Town, South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first where Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton opened the innings for the Proteas. Aiden Markram who won the player of the match for the first test of the series lost his wicket to Khurram Shahzad after scoring 17 runs off 40 deliveries.
Following his dismissal, Wiaan Mulder joined hands with Ryan Rickelton and was expected to build a partnership but Mohammad Abbas dismissed Mulder for 5 runs and packed him to the pavilion.
Followed batter Tristan Stubbs also lost his wicket to Salman Agha without scoring a run after facing six balls.
While Pakistan was seen to have an upper hand in the Cape Town test, Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma and opening batter Ryan Rickelton made a massive 235 runs partnership for the fourth wicket and put South Africa in the commanding position at the end of Day 1.
Salman Agha in the 77th over dismissed Bavuma for 106 runs and broke the partnership. Bavuma’s 106 also made him join an elite list of South Africa Test captains with 500-plus runs in a home season.
- 600 – Faf du Plessis in 2017/18 (Avg: 42.85)
- 582 – Herbie Taylor in 1922/23 (Avg: 64.66)
- 536 – Dudley Nourse in 1948/49 (Avg: 76.57)
- 508 – Herbie Taylor in 1913/14 (Avg: 50.80)
- 504 – Temba Bavuma in 2024/25 (Avg: 72)
After David Bedingham lost his wicket for five runs, Kyle Verreynne and Ryan Rickelton made a century stand and led South Africa to score 429 runs for 5 wickets loss before the Day 2 lunch break.
Ryan Rickelton scored his maiden test double-century and guided SA to post a mammoth score in their first inning. Rickelton scored 259 runs before being dismissed by Mir Hamza while Verreynne secured his fourth test century in the process.
With Marco Jansen’s 62 and Maharaj’s 40, South Africa scored 615 runs for 10 wickets loss in their first inning.
On the other hand, Pakistan made a struggling start as they lost their first three wickets while scoring just 20 runs. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan made a stand and were expected to build a match-saving knock.
Kwena Maphaka dismissed Babar while scoring 58 runs and broke the 98-run stand. Soon Mulder dismissed Mohammad Rizwan(46) and loaded pressure on the Pakistan lineup.
