South Africa dominated the opening day of the first Test match against Pakistan in Centurion on Thursday. Fast bowlers Dane Paterson and Corbin Bosch bowled out Pakistan to 211 in their first innings and then Aiden Markram‘s unbeaten 47 runs took the Proteas to 82 for 3 at the end of Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test.
After opting to bowl first, the hosts were quick to take control of the game with debutant fast-bowling all-rounder Corbin Bosch picking a wicket on the first ball of his Test career. Captain Shan Masood struggled to make an impact as an opener while the returning Babar Azam fell after scoring just 4 runs.
Kamran Ghulam and in-form Mohammad Rizwan added 81 runs for the fifth wicket to keep Pakistan on track to a decent total but Paterson bowled a memorable spell to pick his second consecutive five-wicket haul in Tests.
Paerson emerged as the best bowler with five wickets for 61 while the debutant Bosch clinched four for 63. Marco Jansen put Pakistan out of their misery by dismissing Khurram Shahzad but Kagiso Rabada went wicketless. Ghulam top-scored with 54 runs for Pakistan while Rizwan fell on 28 after a promising start to his innings at SuperSport Park.
However, the Proteas struggled to dominate with a bat as Khurram Shahzad dismissed Toni de Zorzi and Ryan Rickelton early to balance the game. The struggling opener Aiden Markram then single-handedly put South Africa back into the driving seat by scoring 47* off 67 balls. South Africa were trailing by just 129 runs at the end of the day’s play and will look to strengthen their grip on the crucial first Test on Day 2.
South Africa Playing XI: Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson.
Pakistan Playing XI: Shan Masood (c), Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas.
