In his last Test at Newlands, Vernon Philander grabbed the opening wicket of the first session, to get the home crowd buzzing on Day 1 of the second Test, writes Khalid Mohidin.
Newlands. The iconic ground that has seen all kinds of wonderful moments. Debuts, retirements, milestones and shortcomings, a Test at this beautiful ground, never disappoints.
The match between South Africa and England was sold out within 30 mins of tickets going on sale, and it was amazing to see Newlands packed to the rafters once again, especially after witnessing empty seats during domestic and Mzansi Super League games.
The Barmy Army were in full force singing Jerusalem to open up the match, and right beside them, Amla’s Army was in full voice.
It was evident from the start that this Test would be another humdinger.
Homeboy Vernon Philander, in his last Test in front of the Newlands faithful, took the new ball and in his first over fizzed in two beautiful outswingers that beat Zak Crawley’s bat.
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Kagiso Rabada mimicked his opening partner with an equally scrumptious delivery that whizzed past the same batsman – evidence that Newlands Groundsman Ihtishaam Adams sprinkled a little spicy on a deck that seemed to be flat and described as a batters strip at the toss.
The pitch certainly produced enough moments by the bowlers to have the press box oohing and aahing.
It was Philander who adhered to the script with a textbook outswinger that found Crawley’s edge for an easy scoop up behind the stumps by Quinton de Kock.
England almost saw off the initial danger, through Dom Sibley (34) and Joe Denly (21*), who paced themselves to a 55-run partnership and took the visitors to 63/1.
But Rabada had the last laugh to find Sibley’s edge to bring the England skipper Joe Root (4*) out to the middle.
The visitors ended the session on 67/2.
Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix
