This time for Africa: After 27 years, Bavuma & Co reach promised land

SOME of cricket's most emotionally-charged wins have come on the back of boundaries. MS Dhoni against Sri Lanka in 2011. Ben Stokes off Pat Cummins in 2019. Arjuna Ranatunga off Glenn McGrath in 1996. Carlos Brathwaite off Stokes in 2016.

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

On Saturday afternoon, an everyday drive on the off side for a single echoed throughout the cricketing world in a manner it has seldom done in the almost 150-year history of the sport's oldest form.

At 12.45 PM on a sun-baked Lord's, Kyle Verreynne drove a loose ball in front of square before running the single most important run in South Africa's cricketing psyche. Even before Verreynne had completed five of the 22 yards, he had both his arms aloft. The batter at the other end, David Bedingham, was smiling even before completing it.