South Africa vs Pakistan 3rd Test: Honours even on day 1 at Johannesburg
It was an exciting day of cricket between Pakistan and South Africa in the 3rd Test match played at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on Friday. South African's stand-in captain, Dean Elgar, won the toss and decided to bat first. Markram 90, Hashim Amla 41, de Bruyn 49, Hamza 41 helped hosts post 262 runs in their first innings. In reply, Pakistan lost two early wickets at the end of day 1.
The hosts got off to a poor start as their captain Dean Elgar was dismissed cheaply for five runs by Mohammad Abbas. Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla played with positive intent putting pressure on Pakistan bowlers. At the first drinks break, South Africa were 54 for 1. Markram then reached his half-century off 72 balls. Both of them looked in good touch and made batting look easy. Both of them took the hosts to 108 for 1 at lunch.
After the lunch break, both batsmen looked good for a big total before Faheem Ashraf struck in the 35th over. Aiden Markram was dismissed for 90 runs. Both Markram and Amla added 126 runs for the 2nd wicket. Shadab Khan then dismissed the well-set batsman Amla for 41 runs. Theunis de Bruyn and the debutant Zubayr Hamza steadied South African innings and took them to 226 for 3 at tea.
Pakistan got off to a perfect start after the tea break as Mohammad Abbas dismissed Theunis de Bruyn for 49 runs. Hamza and de Bruyn added 75 runs for the 4th wicket. Pakistan bowlers bowled well after tea as South Africa lost their last seven wickets for just 33 runs. South Africa were bowled out for 262 runs in their first innings. For Pakistan, Faheem Ashraf took 3 wickets while Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas, and Mohammad Aamir took 2 wickets each.
In reply, Vernon Philander struck twice to dismiss Shan Masood and Azhar Ali in successive deliveries. Pakistan ended the first day at 17 for 2.
Brief scores: Pakistan 17 for 2 in 9 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 10*, Vernon Philander 2/1) trail South Africa 262 in 77.4 overs (Aiden Markram 90, Theunis de Bruyn 49, Faheem Ashraf 3/57, Mohammad Aamir 2/36) by 245 runs.