Yesterday, as South Africa entered the final session of the fifth day at Newlands with five wickets in hand, it looked like they might just pull off one of cricket’s great escapes.

Sadly, Quinton de Kock suffered what can politely be described as a brain fart (the same can be said of Faf du Plessis earlier in the day, and Dean Elgar in the first innings), and then Ben Stokes rose to the occasion and wrapped up the match with half an hour to spare.

Whilst Stokes’ man of the match heroics have been widely lauded (this is a great analysis of how he saved the best for last), Jos Buttler’s antics have also come under the spotlight. As Vernon Philander battled to try and save the test, the English ‘keeper was caught on the stump mic calling him a “f*cking knobhead”.

He also chirps “get past that f*cking gut”, clearly having a go at the size of Vern’s midriff.

Opinion across social media has been largely divided, usually along the lines of which team you support. Here’s what happened shortly after Buttler felt that Vernon hadn’t moved out of the way of a throw towards his end:

Jos Buttler 1-0 Vernon Philander “fucking knobhead, get past that fucking gut” #SAvsENG pic.twitter.com/4otudxy0uQ

— Will Christophers (@wjcchippy92) January 7, 2020

I would have thoroughly enjoyed it if Vern had turned around and told the struggling Buttler to score some runs before he opens his big bek, but the allrounder was in the midst of trying to save a test match.

For next time, Vern, let Buttler know he has 86 runs at under 22 in this series, with many English fans and past cricketers calling for his head, whereas you have 106 runs with the bat at more than 35, with six wickets to boot.

Kevin Pietersen, also known as FIGJAM (‘F*ck I’m Good Just Ask Me’), made it clear he felt it was all part of the game:

LOTS having a go at @josbuttler here!
LEAVE HIM ALONE!

This is Test Cricket and believe me, this is nothing compared to lots that goes on, on the field.
Series is alive big time!

END OF! pic.twitter.com/vSh4zDL1AY

— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) January 8, 2020

As loathe as I am to agree with KP, test cricket, especially deep into the fifth day in a tightly-fought encounter, is high-octane stuff. Buttler should have stopped at “knobhead”, and left out the gut jibe altogether, but if he stuck his head into the Proteas’ changing room after the match and had a chat with Vern, then let’s leave it at that.

But also, let’s get KG and Anrich Nortje to crank it up past 150km/h when Buttler walks out to bat in the third test, and let him know that what goes around, comes around.

When pressed on the subject after the match, English captain Joe Root said:

I don’t think it was anything serious. It was just two guys playing hard Test cricket. Emotions were running quite high and I don’t think anyone overstepped the mark. You want a bit of spice on the TV anyway, don’t you?

As far as test match final days ago, this was a beauty, and a reminder of why so many people want the ICC to stick with five-day matches, as opposed to four.

Whilst the Proteas ultimately failed to preserve their series lead, we shouldn’t forget that this was a team down and out just a few months ago in India.

Brain farts aside, their performance yesterday points to an increased resilience that we would expect from a team with Mark Boucher as head coach.

Pieter Malan looks like a proper opener, who is prepared to dig in and see off the new ball, and Rassie van der Dussen has already shown his grit on a number of occasions.

If the team’s senior batsmen, like skipper Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock can stand up and be counted (you’re 27 now, Quinny – time to stop with the nonsense), this has the makings of a batting unit that can put runs on the board.

The likes of KG Rabada, Nortje and Keshav Maharaj will be thankful for that, having been forced to defend poor totals far too often in recent times.

That’s not forgetting Big Vern, who will look at his final two tests as a chance to put a few English cherries on top of a great career.

Starting with Jos Buttler.