Aiden Markram brought up his 10th half-century as South Africa posted 133/1 by lunch on Day 1 of the 2nd Test against the West Indies. | ✍️ Khalid Mohidin from the Wanderers.
The Proteas opted to bat first on an overcast morning at the Wanderers.
Looking at the wicket, the Wanderers’ pitch looked patchy. Particularly on the golf course end. The overcast conditions and overnight storm in JHB indicated that it would take a couple of sessions before the pitch would start to act up for both the seamers and the spinners.
On the Corlett Drive end, there was a lot more old dry grass. It made it easier to navigate the fast bowlers.
If you missed your line and length on this wicket, you’d travel to the boundary, and the way Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram managed the start of their innings was perfect. If you bowl too short, playing off the back foot was fairly easy. Bowl to full, and made it easier for particularly Dean to play on the leg-side as a lefty.
They brought up their 50 partnership in 67 minutes taking 11 overs to do so.
The opening pair left well and hit balls on merit with Elgar looking more like the attacking batter out of the two. By the first drinks break the Proteas were 66/0 after 15 overs.
The first wicket fell just 15 minutes after the drinks break, Elgar trying to sweep Gudakesh Motie, and he was caught at short fine leg on 42 off 54 deliveries. South Africa was reduced to 77/1.
The clouds cleared and the sun was out by 11:25, which would alter the pitch in a different way. The Windies continued with their two spinners, Motie and Roston Chase.
Tony de Zorzi and Markram got the runs flowing again with a couple of boundaries, bringing up the 100 in 21.4 overs.
Markram reached his 10th half-century 20 minutes from the lunch break, reaching it off 68 balls and spent 99 minutes at the crease.
De Zorzi finished the session on 31 and Markram on 55.
