Opener Aiden Markram’s half-century on Thursday provided South Africa much-needed support after early woes on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan, being played at the SuperSport Park, Centurion
The Proteas concluded the opening day of the first Test, scoring 82 runs at the loss of three wickets.
Beginning their inning, the Proteas had received an early blow from Pakistan’s Khurram Shahzad as he dismissed opening batter Tony de Zori in the third over.
Markram was then joined by Ryan Rickelton but Shahzad struck again and dismissed the newcomer after he just added eight runs to the scoreboard.
Rickelton’s replacement, Tristan Stubbs, faced 28 balls while Markram steadily added runs to the scoreboard.
Stubbs cameo was short-lived as he fell against Mohammad Abbas on nine runs.
Markram remained steady throughout the innings and was then joined by skipper, Temba Bavuma and the pair continued to bat towards the end of the day.
Soon after beginning the second day, Markram’s score was 53 off 72 while the captain added four runs off 31 balls.
Earlier, the Proteas pacers had rattled Pakistan and bundled the side out on 211 runs in their first innings with Dane Paterson taking a five-wicket haul as Corbin Bosch took four scalps with Marco Jansen taking the final wicket of the inning.
Pakistan’s opener Saim Ayub fell at 14 and Babar Azam at 4. Whereas, Shan Masood was routed for 17 and Saud Shakeel for 14.
The disappointment continued for Pakistan with the fall of Kamran Ghulam after he scored 54 runs, the highest score from any batter in the innings.
It kept on getting worse for Masood’s men with the dismissals of wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan (27 off 62), Salman Ali Agha (18 off 34) and Aamer Jamal (28 off 27).
After a duck from Naseem Shah, it was all up to Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Abbas. The duo put up a strong stand and helped Pakistan cross the 200-run mark against the Proteas.
The partnership, however, was soon broken by Jansen who dismissed Khurram and brought an end to Pakistan’s first innings.
After winning the toss, South Africa had elected to field first against Pakistan.
