CENTURION: Pakistan fought back to restrict South Africa to 82 for three wickets at the close of the opening day of the first Test after being bowled out for 211 at SuperSport Park on Thursday.
Wickets for Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Abbas saw Pakistan break through the top of the batting order to leave their hosts trailing by 129 runs at the close.
Khurram dismissed both Tony de Zorzi (2) and Ryan Rickelton (8) cheaply to see South Africa struggling early in their reply while Abbas, on his return to Test cricket for the first time in three years, trapped Tristan Stubbs (9) leg before wicket.
But Aiden Markram, who has been under pressure to get runs, will resume on Friday on 47 alongside captain Temba Bavuma who is four not out.
Both teams elected to play all-seam bowling attacks on a well-grassed pitch and it was the home sides change pair of Dane Paterson and Corbin Bosch who did the damage after South Africa won the toss and put the visitors into bat.
Kamran Ghulam’s counterattacking 54 off 71 balls and a stubborn 22-run last wicket partnership between Khurram and Abbas allowed the tourists to cross the 200-run mark on a seamer-friendly pitch where batters had been struggling for the last six years.
Paterson, enjoying a late-career surge at the age of 35, took 5-61 while Bosch had a dream start on debut at his home ground as he became the 25th cricketer to take a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket, dismissing Pakistan captain Shan Masood in the 14th over.
Bosch, who finished with 4-63 off 15 overs, had been drafted into the South Africa side after a raft of injuries to their regular fast bowlers, had
Shan (17) caught at third slip by Marco Jansen with his opening delivery, before Paterson took five wickets in an innings for a second successive Test.
Paterson, grabbing a rare Test opportunity because of the injury toll, took 5-71 in Sri Lanka’s first innings last month as South Africa beat them by 109 runs in Gqeberha and continued his form on a hot day in Centurion.
He had Saim caught behind for 14, followed by Babar Azam, back in the side after being dropped during Pakistan’s last Test series against England, for only four runs as he pushed at a ball outside the off stump.
But Pakistan opted for attack rather than a defensive rebuild.
Pakistan coach Aaqib Javed said in a pre-match television interview that he didn’t expect a significant difference in approach from his players after they beat South Africa 3-0 in a one-day series which ended on Sunday.
He reasoned that it was the sort of pitch on which positive stroke play was required to score runs in seam-friendly conditions.
It seemed the majority of Pakistan’s batsmen were still in aggressive one-day mode. Both Paterson and Bosch benefitted from batsmen playing poor strokes.
“When we saw them really coming at us we just said, be patient,” said Bosch. “There was enough in the wicket that if you held your area there was always a ball that was going to get them out. It was [about] holding our nerve and not backing down.”
Saud Shakeel played an extraordinary innings after going out to bat with his side on 41 for three, hitting three boundaries off his first five balls before Bosch had him caught down the leg-side for 14 off six balls off a sharp short pitch ball after South Africa successfully went for a television review.
Kamran was undeterred, racing to a 52-ball half-century and sharing a rapid 81-run fifth-wicket stand with Mohammad Rizwan (27).
Kamran went for his shots, sometimes to the frustration of the South African bowlers, and his feisty effort included an exchange of words with Kagiso Rabada — South Africa’s most impressive bowler despite not taking a wicket — and wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne.
“I just focus on playing positive cricket,” Kamran told reporters after the day’s play. “The wicket was quite challenging, especially in the first session, but we managed. When I was batting with Rizwan, we were both playing really well, and everything seemed in control.”
Paterson ended the promising stand, dismissing Kamran, who came down the wicket to the bowler, was cramped up by a short ball and top edged high into the sky to be caught by Rabada.
Paterson then dismissed Rizwan and brought up his five wicket haul by dismissing Salman Ali Agha.
Aamer Jamal (28) was twice dropped by Stubbs in the slips before Pakistan lost three wickets without a run and crumbled to 189-9. Bosch was on a hat trick when Aamer played the fast bowler back onto his stumps and Naseem Shah offered a tame catch at mid-on.
Abbas survived the hat-trick ball before Pakistan were bowled out early in the last session.
Khurram hit the top of De Zorzi’s middle stump with a delivery that jagged back into the left-hander and wicket-keeper Rizwan took a splendid low catch to dismiss Rickelton with fast bowlers making full use of conducive conditions throughout the day.
Abbas then baffled Stubbs with a nippy delivery and had him trapped leg before wicket before South Africa ended the day without further damage.
SCOREBOARD
PAKISTAN (1st Innings):
Shan Masood c Jansen b Bosch 17
Saim Ayub c Verreynne b Paterson 14
Babar Azam c Markram b Paterson 4
Kamran Ghulam c Rabada b Paterson 54
Saud Shakeel c Verreynne b Bosch 14
Mohammad Rizwan c Markram b Paterson 27
Salman Ali Agha c Rickelton b Paterson 18
Aamir Jamal b Bosch 28
Naseem Shah c Rabada b Bosch 0
Khurram Shahzad c Paterson b Jansen 11
Mohammad Abbas not out 10
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, NB-5) 14
TOTAL (all out, 57.3 overs) 211
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36 (Shan), 2-40 (Saim), 3-41 (Babar), 4-56 (Saud), 5-137 (Kamran), 6-142 (Rizwan), 7-189 (Aamir), 8-189 (Salman), 9-189 (Naseem)
BOWLING: Rabada 14-2-35-0, Jansen 12.3-1-43-1, Paterson 16-4-61-5 (5nb), Bosch 15-4-63-4
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings):
A. Markram not out 47
T. de Zorzi b Khurram 2
R. Rickelton c Rizwan b Khurram 8
T. Stubbs lbw Abbas 9
T. Bavuma not out 4
EXTRAS (B-8, NB-4) 12
TOTAL (for three wickets, 22 overs) 82
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (de Zorzi), 2-24 (Rickelton), 3-66 (Stubbs)
STILL TO BAT: D. Bedingham, K. Verreynne, M. Jansen, K. Rabada, D. Paterson, C. Bosch
BOWLING: Khurram 8-1-28-2, Abbas 10-3-36-1 (2nb), Naseem 4-0-10-0 (2nb)
UMPIRES: Alexander Wharf (England) and Nitin Menon (India)
TV UMPIRE: Handunnettige Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)
MATCH REFEREE: Richard Richardson (West Indies)
Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024
