Du Plessis' superb knock of 134 runs and his 205-run partnership with AB de Villiers set South Africa up for a world record win but they fell short by eight runs while chasing a 458-tun target, settling for a dramatic draw yesterday.

"This morning a lot of people wrote us off and the character that we have shown to pull this off, I am very satisfied with the result," he said. His third Test hundred came in the post-tea session, when South Africa set themselves up for the win. But then AB de Villiers got out and du Plessis himself was run-out, changing the complexion of the game.