South Africa 82 for 3 (Markram 47*, Shahzad 2-28) trail Pakistan 211 (Gulam 54, Paterson 5-61, Bosch 4-63) by 129 runs
The story of the opening session changed the moment Temba Bavuma passed the ball to debutant Bosch. He started with a stain remover well outside the stump. Masood, who had been forced to deal with an unerring fourth stump for the entire first hour, looked bright-eyed as he hit it, with a thick outside edge carrying Marco Jansen at third slip to give him a first-ball wicket . .
All of a sudden, the good balls that were always missing edges started to find them. Paterson hit one to Ayub, who was uncharacteristically defensive, neatly accumulating 14 off 35 balls. He kissed the outside edge and both openers were back in the pavilion. Paterson wasn’t done, as Babar Azam, returning to the side, also had a flick on a well outside off stump, the hesitation of his shot revealing his lack of confidence; it was still meat and drink for the papers.
With Pakistan’s defenses going haywire, Saud Shakeel opted for the other extreme, looking to win every ball, but it took just six deliveries before that strategy collapsed. He hooked the goalkeeper, and South Africa managed to turn it away.
It will be all the more frustrating for Pakistan as a magnificent first hour of South African bowling went unrewarded. With Kagiso Rabada and Jansen attacking the game, it was obvious that Bavuma had opted to include Pakistan, but somehow they had found a way to dismiss the two main bowlers.
An 81-run stand between Ghulam, who scored an entertaining half-century, and Mohammad Rizwan seemed to have pulled Pakistan out of the hole they found themselves in during the morning session. Rizwan and Ghulam had built their partnership on the other side of lunch and continued in the same vein. But as the clouds moved menacingly just above us, the unlucky Rabada was brought in for another excellent but unsuccessful spell. He produced the most engaging cricket of the day, with both KGs locking horns on more than one occasion; Rabada became increasingly frustrated with Kamran Ghulam’s stubborn resistance and came close enough to tell him, with Ghulam responding in unfriendly terms to the family to return to the bowling alley.
With the crowd engaged, Ghulam moved closer to the slips that Jansen bombed and brought up his half-century, but South Africa did not refuse. Ghulam hit Paterson, only to flick it to fine leg, where none other than Rabada rose to take the catch that sent a sold-out SuperSport Park into a frenzy.
A wicket brought more for South Africa before lunch, and it proved again. Rizwan came into prominence in the next Bosch before Salman Ali Agha and Aamer Jamal embarked on another rebuild. Ten minutes from time the duo closed in on another 50 partnership, but another South African explosion would prove the final blow.
South Africa had created a few chances at slips on the outside edge, so Bosch found Jamal’s inside edge as he cut, before a surprise Paterson bouncer saw Agha’s back.
With Pakistan finished, there was ample time to rewrite the history of the day, and Khurram Shahzad threatened to do precisely that when he sliced Zorzi’s Tony in two with perhaps the ball of the day. Constantly threatening both sides of the bat, he found the outside edge of Ryan Rickleton to reduce South Africa to 24 for 2 and regain the momentum to start the second day.