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South African cricket captain Temba Bavuma has said there was something special brewing in the test team after they won their seventh match in a row, beating Pakistan by 10 wickets at Newlands, and they could now look forward to the World Test Championship final.
Only once before in their history have South Africa won more tests in succession, when they claimed nine victories on the trot between 2002 and 2003.
Their recent wins have come against West Indies and Bangladesh (two) away, and Sri Lanka and Pakistan (two each) at home. Some have suggested it has been a gentle run of fixtures, but Bavuma believes the team have other gears to go through.
"As much as we have got the success, I don't think we are a well-oiled machine," he told reporters. "We have seen in certain moments of the game that we have let it go too much in the opposition's favour and it has taken some form of brilliance from us to bring it back.
"When you speak about the special factor within the team, it is our ability to find a way (to win). We are still on a journey and not close to playing 100 percent.
"But there is something special brewing within the team and it will be scary when we are firing on all cylinders."
The World Test Championship final will be played at Lords from 11-15 June against arguably South Africa's greatest cricket foes, Australia.
"We'll prepare as well as we can, probably more mentally than anything," Bavuma said. "We will stay true to what we have been doing as a team. We will have to adjust to the conditions in England and the opposition, but we will go out and fight," he said.
Meantime, Afghanistan took just 15 balls to wrap up victory on the last day of the second test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, winning by 72 runs to take the two-match series.
Zimbabwe were dismissed for 205, failing to add to their overnight score but losing their last two wickets in only 13 minutes.
Richard Ngarava was run out in the second over of the day amid confusion with captain Craig Ervine, who went in the next over trapped leg before wicket by Rashid Khan, who finished with 7-66 in 27.3 overs.
It was Khan's leg spin on Sunday that saw Afghanistan move into a winning position after Zimbabwe initially looked victory-bound when they were 157-4, chasing a winning target of 278 runs.
The first test, also in Bulawayo, ended in a high scoring draw.
Afghanistan have now won four of 11 tests played since winning test status in 2017, two of them against Zimbabwe.
-Reuters