Twitter Reactions: South Africa thrash the demoralised visitors by 322 runs

South Africa have won the third Test against Australia by 322 runs on the fourth day itself in Cape Town at Newlands on Sunday. The visitors had absolutely no clue when they came out to bat in their second innings in pursuit of a record chase of 430 runs. They collapsed haplessly as the South African bowlers were all over the Australian batsmen. However, despite South Africa’s brilliant display on the field, Twitterati was busy talking about the ICC’s verdict over the Australian players in ball-tampering incident.

Earlier in the day, AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock strode out to the middle in the morning even as Steve Smith and David Warner stepped down from their respective captain and vice-captain positions following the attempted ball-tampering incident. There was no intent whatsoever in Australia’s approach as they quietly went about their business. South Africa were not under pressure at all as they went for quick runs and lost wickets in the process.

Another collapse for Aussies

Eventually, the hosts were bowled out for 373 runs in their second innings which set the target of 430 runs in front of the Australians who were in no position even to play cricket. Their chase began confidently though as their openers Warner and Cameron Bancroft batted well. They added 57 runs together as the latter was sent back with some amazing brilliance in the field by Faf du Plessis. The wicket triggered the collapse for them as the middle order crumbled like a pack of cards.

Keshav Maharaj and Morne Morkel ran through their line-up. Morkel, especially, spit venom in his bowling and ripped apart the Australians also picking the wicket of Smith much like the first innings. He bowled some terrific bouncers at them and were caught at short leg. Meanwhile, the crowd was also enjoying the proceedings as they booed the visitors’ skipper Smith while he walked away from the crowd.

Australia succumbed to the pressure as they collapsed from being 57/0 to 107/10 dramatically. There was no intent literally in their batting which was expected after what transpired the other day. Their mindset was not at all correct to play the game of cricket which was on display with their hapless batting performance.

However, for South Africa, there was total elation as they took an unassailable lead in the series to cap off the dismal day for the Aussies. Twitter who was critical of Australia for their actions on the field trolled them hilariously after losing badly and hailed the home side for their terrific show amidst all the controversy.

Here’s how they reacted: