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Gibson: Mission accomplished for Proteas

Ottis Gibson declared it was "mission accomplished" by South Africa after they completed a Test series whitewash over Pakistan.

Man-of-the-series Duanne Olivier took three second-innings wickets to claim match figures of 8-125, while Kagiso Rabada also struck three times as the tourists were bowled out for 273 to go down by 107 runs in Johannesburg on the fourth day.

Head coach Gibson was full of praise for the way the Proteas went about pulling off a 3-0 sweep, having already recorded victories at Centurion and Cape Town.

"We did exactly what we set out to do," Gibson said. "We wanted to play four fast bowlers, and the way we played, the pitches suited four fast bowlers.

"The four fast bowlers did a fantastic job. Batsmen struggled for runs, but they still scored; we got two hundreds in the series, and all in all, mission accomplished."

“To those before us and those to come, today, tomorrow, we'll play as one. To the TEAM!” #Itsmorethancricket #ProteaFire pic.twitter.com/oBirs2zWVR
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) January 14, 2019

The former West Indies international added: "We will certainly continue to play this brand of cricket, because it is successful, and ultimately that's what we want to be. We want to be successful, and if it's working for us then we'll continue this trend."

Stand-in captain Dean Elgar says South Africa must strive to raise their standards despite such an emphatic series win.

"I don't think we played at 100 per cent throughout the series," the opening batsman said. "I always thought we were maybe at 70, 75 per cent throughout the series, so for us to get close to 100 per cent is another goal for us.

"I'm sure a lot of guys would agree with what I'm saying that we haven't played our best cricket.

But we're still winning, so I can't wait for when we're actually in that 90 to 100 per cent bracket. I can't wait to see what we can achieve."

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