Aiden Markram hit a sparkling century, but the Proteas faltered in the final session of the first day of the first Test against the West Indies when they reached stumps at 314/8 in their first innings at SuperSport Park at Centurion on Tuesday.
Markram worked his way to a sixth international century before he was completely cleared by a yorker bullet from Alzarri Joseph when he played 115 of 174 balls well (18×4).
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Markram’s wicket came amid the collapse of the Proteas as they lost seven wickets in 80 runs, bringing the Windies straight back into the match after dominating the first two sessions of play.
Protea resumed after tea at 206/1 with Markram just three minutes from his milestone and hearts in his mouth at 99 as he attempted to pull a short ball from Joseph down his leg and Windy was asked to catch and review after the judge said it wasn’t t.
But the replay showed the ball clearly missed the bat and bounced off Markram’s shoulder, a sound heard by the players that allowed him to hit the next ball through the covers for four to reach his century when he looked extremely relieved in his celebration. .
However, a few overs later, Tony de Zorzi (28) ran out of the game on the opening, causing the Proteas to crash late in the day as they fell from 221/1 to 300/8 shortly before the close of play.
De Zorzi hit the ball into a deep spot and rolled out to a comfortable two, but as Markram watched the ball and De Zorzi inexplicably started down the field for a third shot that wasn’t there, Tagenerin Chanderpole shot from deep and goalkeeper Joshua Da Silva was great sent the ball to the stumps, but could not recoup.
Captain Temba Bavuma was then trapped by LBW due to a second ball duck, Markram was bowled and Heinrich Klaasen (20) lived and died by the sword when he hit four boundaries but fell on the top edge from bowling Shannon Gabriel as they slipped to 262. /5.
Regular wickets continued to fall as Senuran Mutusami (3) missed a ball from Kemar Roach and got LBW, Keegan Petersen (14) was also trapped by LBW by Kyle Myers and Kagiso Rabada (8) passed Jason Holder. misses
Test debutant Gerald Coetzee (No. 11) then hit his first two balls to the boundary and together with Marco Jansen (No. 17) they hope to add some valuable lower order runs to the Proteas’ total on the second day morning.
Dominant sessions
At the beginning of the game, the Protei won the toss and chose the bat, with them dominance of the first two sessionsthanks in large part to the 141st starting post between Markram and Dean Elgar (71).
It was a relatively stress-free first session, although Elgar was handed a life on the 10 when he tossed the ball from Myers to Roston Chase on misses, only for him to lose the chance.
Elgar took his lifeline and made half a century just before the 99/0 lunch break.
After lunch, Elgar and Markram continued on their merry way before Elgar attempted to uppercut the short ball from Joseph to the boundary, only to find Jermaine Blackwell in the deep, who caught the ball well, ducking back after initially misjudging the ball’s trajectory. .
It was the only wicket to fall in the first two sessions as Markram and De Zorzi brought them safely in for tea en route to a secure second wicket partnership of 80 runs.