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Fanie de Villiers reflects on Proteas beating Australia · Drive with John Perlman

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  Speaker 1: You're with John Perlman on 702. 702 Drive, it's quarter
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  Speaker 1: to four.
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  Speaker 2: We've had many sporting triumphs in South Africa, all of
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  Speaker 2: them celebrated in different ways for different reasons. But there
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  Speaker 2: is something special about triumphing over five days of test cricket,
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  Speaker 2: not least when almost two of those are completely washed
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  Speaker 2: out by rain. Protea's achievement in Kabecha beating Australia by
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  Speaker 2: an innings and 31 runs absolutely remarkable, particularly given that
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  Speaker 2: they were beaten so resoundingly in the first test down
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  Speaker 2: in Durban. But we have quite a history of this.
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  Speaker 2: And I thought it would be very interesting to find
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  Speaker 2: out from someone who took part in a game in
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  Speaker 2: which victory did not look certain at all and find
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  Speaker 2: out what goes on in the dressing room on the
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  Speaker 2: field as you carve out and try and chip away
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  Speaker 2: to find little footholds of advantage that might bring you
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  Speaker 2: first to the finish line. Just to set the scene,
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  Speaker 2: this is how this particular match, again, The second test
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  Speaker 2: again against Australia, but this time at one of their
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  Speaker 2: strongholds in Sydney.
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  Speaker 1: South Africa needed one more wicket to win. Well played.
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  Speaker 1: Right up in the block.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, he's got one.
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  Speaker 1: So nine for 111 now.
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  Speaker 3: And we're going to see McGraw having to face the music.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can still remember that sitting up in the
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  Speaker 2: middle of the night. Australia needed 117 to win.
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  Speaker 1: At one point, they were 51 points. for one, and
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  Speaker 1: it looked like it was all theirs until it wasn't.
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  Speaker 2: Fani de Villiers took 10 wickets in the match, six
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  Speaker 2: for 43 in the second innings, and he joins us now.
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  Speaker 1: Fani, a very good afternoon to you.
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  Speaker 2: None of us will ever know what it takes for
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  Speaker 2: a team to stare at something as unlikely as that
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  Speaker 2: and achieve victory.
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  Speaker 1: What was going on, though, between you and your teammates?
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  Speaker 2: South Africa really were under pressure right from the beginning,
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  Speaker 2: and yet at every stage you found a way to
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  Speaker 2: stay in the game.
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  Speaker 1: How did you do that?
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  Speaker 3: Well, let's put it this way, just to reiterate what
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  Speaker 3: you said. That game lasted 13 of the 15 sessions.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: And we probably lost 11 of the 15 sessions. Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Of the 11 of the 13 sessions. And to still
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  Speaker 3: pull a win off, It just shows you the unpredictability
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  Speaker 3: of cricket. It shows you probably the fighting spirit. It's
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  Speaker 3: a big key in any scenario. The way our boys
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  Speaker 3: played the last few games of the last game was
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  Speaker 3: just absolutely remarkable. I would have lost a lot of
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  Speaker 3: money if I was a betting man. And on top
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  Speaker 3: of that, the toss makes a big difference.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: In that specific test match, the toss did make a difference.
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  Speaker 3: It was much harder to bet on the last day
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  Speaker 3: of a test match. But the reality of cricket is
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  Speaker 3: it's not finished until the last ball is bowled. I've
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  Speaker 3: seen a game where Willie Morris took a hat-trick, cameras
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  Speaker 3: packed up on provincial cricket many years back, and there
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  Speaker 3: weren't going to be a result. And Super Sports started
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  Speaker 3: packing up their cameras, A draw was evident and obviously
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  Speaker 3: if somebody was going to declare and say or just
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  Speaker 3: throw the towel in and then suddenly he took a
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  Speaker 3: hat trick and the game was back on track again
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  Speaker 3: and we won the game and it wasn't televised. So
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  Speaker 3: those kind of things does happen but even better. If
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  Speaker 3: you win a game from a losing point of view,
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  Speaker 3: then there's so much more emotion involved.
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  Speaker 2: So finally, I mean, I'll come back to Sydney in
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  Speaker 2: a moment, but let's go to St. George's Park both
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  Speaker 2: for a moment. I don't know how much of the
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  Speaker 2: game you're watching, but to the extent that you were.
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  Speaker 2: Can you see little moments in a game that may
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  Speaker 2: not be dramatic, it's not necessarily a hat trick or
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  Speaker 2: anything like that, but where you can say, ah, okay,
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  Speaker 2: we're starting to turn the screw a little bit here
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  Speaker 2: and this might turn the game.
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  Speaker 1: Did you see moments like that down in PE?
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  Speaker 3: Well, obviously you need to have a look at one individual.
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  Speaker 3: I think in most of these remarkable test matches where
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  Speaker 3: one would never guess, not even the betting man can
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  Speaker 3: guess it right, you've got somebody that puts his hand up. Yes. And, and,
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  Speaker 3: and Mark Jansen was just absolutely wonderful. Obviously, Babuma's hand
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  Speaker 3: was fantastic, but you need somebody to play at 145%
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  Speaker 3: of expectation. And, and that's probably what happened in this
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  Speaker 3: test match too. You had, you had Mark Jansen that
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  Speaker 3: put his hand up and he, and he came forward
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  Speaker 3: with a test match that get people to speak and
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  Speaker 3: get people to start analyzing his potential, saying that he
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  Speaker 3: must be the best all around in the world. How
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  Speaker 3: can one bowl that quick, take all those wickets, and
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  Speaker 3: still swing the willow that well? So he's one of those.
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  Speaker 3: You know, most sportsmen look in their sporting career for
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  Speaker 3: one moment in time. Yes, yes. One moment in time where,
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  Speaker 3: differentiation is on the table and everybody starts talking about
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  Speaker 3: you and saying, listen, there's something special here. He's had
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  Speaker 3: many of those. I've seen him bat. I've seen him
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  Speaker 3: play innings that are just absolutely wonderful. And I've seen
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  Speaker 3: him bowl the way that one wouldn't expect it to happen.
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  Speaker 3: And he was one of those guys. So the moment
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  Speaker 3: in this game was probably a culmination of just his
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  Speaker 3: effort with the bat and the ball. And what a
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  Speaker 3: special cricket player. But again... Even with those little moments,
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  Speaker 3: how can one bowl Australia out after we scored nearly
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  Speaker 3: 400 on the same weekend? I mean, what was the
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  Speaker 3: odds on bowling Australia out for less than 100 on
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  Speaker 3: the follow-up innings? I mean, it's just incredible how it.
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  Speaker 1: Is, cricket.
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  Speaker 3: And one good thing, and I think I need to
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  Speaker 3: allude to it, is that cricket gives you a couple
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  Speaker 3: of turning balls. But my goodness, test cricket is so
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  Speaker 3: much better. Test cricket can really get you from behind
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  Speaker 3: and get you to win games. It's not monotonous. It's
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  Speaker 3: a tough game. And concentration, the likes of somebody putting
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  Speaker 3: up his hand, can really turn the table around. And
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  Speaker 3: that's what happened in the stage match. And only test
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  Speaker 3: cricket can really produce those kind of results.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much to Fanny de Villiers. And I
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  Speaker 2: don't know if you've got memories of that game. It
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  Speaker 2: was early in the morning in South Africa. Australia chasing 117.
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  Speaker 2: At one point, they were 51 for 1.
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  Speaker 1: Fanny de Villiers. then started bowling, and.
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  Speaker 2: Before we knew it, they were 56 for four, 63
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  Speaker 2: for five, and on and on it went. It was
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  Speaker 2: never over and clear and decisive, and then finally an
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  Speaker 2: extraordinary win. Maybe you've got your own memories of that.
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  Speaker 2: Drop me a note on that.
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  Speaker 3: 702 Drive.