Five best Test match knocks by JP Duminy

It was an unexpected ending, but most endings are unexpected; it was a journey which left many unfulfilled hopes, but most journeys are unable to fulfill all hopes. South Africa’s middle-order mainstay JP Duminy, who burst onto the Test scene on Australian soil in 2008, has retired from the longest format following a topsy-turvy ride of 46 Tests in nearly nine years.

Despite an excellent conversion rate in whites – he has crossed hundred six times out of the fourteen when he reached fifty – Duminy, with his handy off-spin and agile fielding, failed to live up to expectations which his maiden Test series brought with him.

Flown in as a replacement for Ashwell Prince, the southpaw from Cape Town returned from Australian shores with an average of 61.50, which included a gutsy hundred in just his second Test at Melbourne. Gaining fame courtesy of a multitude of shots – he has the clean cover drives, the confident cuts and nimble wrists and flicks in his repertoire – Duminy has ended with a disappointing batting average of 32.85, but some of his Test knocks shall remain worth cherishing for a long while.

#1 166 vs Australia, Melbourne 2008

Duminy's career best of 166 came against Australia in his debut series in 2008-09

Duminy's most memorable Test knock came with his team in deep trouble. Duminy was fresh from his first Test fifty in the second innings of the preceding Test at Perth – that game remains renowned for South Africa hunting down 414, still the second highest Test run chase – and in the following game at the MCG, a stand of 180 for the ninth wicket with Dale Steyn showed his tough character in difficult circumstances.

The score swelled to 459 from 251/8 with Duminy the last man to be dismissed after a patient and gritty 166, his maiden Test century and highest Test score.

Out of nowhere, South Africa found themselves 55 runs ahead of the Australian total, and despite the warhorse-like efforts of the opposition captain Ricky Ponting – he fell for 101 and 99 – the hosts lost momentum courtesy of a Steyn ten-for in the match.

A paltry target of 183 was chased down with ease as Duminy announced himself in the Test arena, gaining massive confidence from scoring against the likes of the lethal duo of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson.

#2 141 vs Australia, Perth 2016

An innings of 141 at the WACA virtually dumped Australia out of the contest

Duminy's favourite Test opponents – three of his six Test hundreds have come against Australia – tasted further harshness from the player with South Africa setting about to clinch a third consecutive Test series there. After falling behind by 2 runs in the first innings and losing two early wickets (among them Hashim Amla), the left-handed duo of Duminy and Dean Elgar joined hands to hurt the hosts.

A humungous partnership of 250, in which Duminy contributed 141, virtually dumped Australia out of the contest. An array of strokes against pace and spin alike thoroughly frustrated an attack comprising Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, as courtesy of that huge stand, Elgar’s own 127 and invaluable lower order runs, South Africa took a 1-0 lead after a 177-run win, in a series where they would eventually register yet another triumph on the opponent’s soil.

In the absence of AB de Villiers, the big score piled up by Duminy at number four went a long way in influencing the result of the match in which he also dismissed Australia’s second innings top-scorer Usman Khawaja for 97, his first nervous-ninety score in Tests.

#3 100* vs Sri Lanka, Galle 2014

Against Sri Lanka in 2014, Duminy hit 100* on a slow and low Galle track

In South Africa’s first Test post the retirement of the great Graeme Smith, Duminy stepped up responsibly to fill in for Smith’s absence at the top and the vacancy created in the middle-order by Jacques Kallis’ own Test retirement.

On the spin-friendly track of Galle and against the wily left-armer Rangana Herath in his own den, Duminy displayed a sturdy character to grind out two essential partnerships – 75 with Vernon Philander and 66 with Morne Morkel for the eighth and ninth wicket, respectively – and drag South Africa to a healthy 455, after which they declared.

A gentle innings of exactly a 100 kept him unbeaten as he defended strongly and timed his drives to perfection on a slow and low surface where Dilruwan Perera ran through the South African batting line-up with essential wickets of Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, with the latter two scoring composed fifties.

In yet another match which brought him wickets, Duminy’s useful part-timers accounted for the legendary Kumar Sangakkara in the second innings as the Proteas aimed to set a decent platform with Sri Lanka in pursuit of an unlikely target of 370. The visitors won by 153 runs.

#4 123 vs Australia, Port Elizabeth 2014

Duminy's 123 against Australia in 2014 helped South Africa level the series

A series featuring high-quality Test match temperament from both sides, Australia struck the first blow by taking a lead after the first Test at Centurion. When a confident bowling attack consisting of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Nathan Lyon stepped out with great panache to try and finish off the series – they had reduced South Africa to 200/5 in the first innings – Duminy and AB de Villiers had the answers to their persistent questions.

A dominating stand of 149 blunted the Australian bowling with Michael Clarke forced to introduce three part-timers, including himself, into the attack. Duminy struck a vital 123 and was the penultimate wicket to fall with the total taken beyond Australia’s expectations to a highly respectable 423.

An innings featuring 14 fours gave South Africa the upper hand with a huge first innings lead of 177, and when he came on to bowl, he sent back a threatening Johnson to cut short his stay at the crease.

In the second innings, the scalp of a firing David Warner for 66 started a great Australian collapse, with the hosts winning by 231 runs and Duminy being adjudged the Man of the Match.

#5 103 vs New Zealand, Wellington 2012

At the Basin Reserve in 2012, Duminy struck 103 on his return to the Test side

Two years after being dropped from the Test side, Duminy returned to the South African middle-order in style by reminding the selectors of his five-day game potential with his second Test hundred, with the first coming only in his debut series on the 2008-09 tour of Australia. With stalwarts Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla being sent back by rapid pace, Duminy found Alviro Petersen to post yet another mountain-like partnership in his Test career.

In a union of 200 runs, the number five hit 103 to take the total across 300 at the Basin Reserve, where the tourists ended with 474/9 declared in the first innings. And when quick runs were the need of the hour, Duminy smashed a blazing 33* off 23 balls in the second innings, which included 2 fours and 3 sixes.

Though the match ended in a draw, South Africa took yet another away series victory with a 1-0 margin, as a mature knock from a very capable batsman booked his ticket for the upcoming tour of England.