By Patrick Compton.
Aiden Markram struck an undefeated half-century, his 10th in tests, to lead South Africa to an impressive 133 for one at lunch on the opening day of the second Betway test against the West Indies at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Once again – after the first test in Centurion – South Africa enjoyed first strike after winning a good toss and once again they profited from an undisciplined bowling effort by the West Indies.
Compared with their 99 without loss in 28 overs at Centurion, the Proteas went one better at the Wanderers, going at an impressive rate of 4.4 to the over in an unusually high number of overs – 30 – in the first session. This was partly because the two West Indies spinners, Roston Chase and new man Gudakesh Motie delivered nine overs between them.
Rather like Kingsmead in Durban, formerly a place where swing and seam used to reign, the Wanderers’ track is now susceptible to spin and SA skipper Temba Bavuma took one look at the dry, partly bare pitch and opted to bat first after winning the toss. Although both Motie and Chase lacked consistency, they were able to extract considerable turn on occasion which must have whet the appetites of Proteas’ spinners Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer who had been brought into the side.
Initially, the pitch looked good for batting with Markram and Dean Elgar having little difficulty in putting away the plentiful number of bad balls that were either too short, too wide or too full.
Markram looked in excellent form after his morale-boosting hundred in Centurion, while Elgar put away his ill-chosen ramp shots and pulled the short balls square or even forward of square. The pair added 76 before Elgar, sweeping at Motie in the 18th over, got a leading edge to offer a low catch to Chase at “45”. The former South African captain had struck seven fours in his brisker-than-usual 42 in 54 balls.
The fast run-scoring continued when Tony de Zorzi joined Markram with the left-hander looking assured on 31 (4x4s) as he helped Markram add 57 off 75 balls before the break. Markram, playing beautifully, particularly off both the front and back feet through the off-side, had struck 10 fours in his 55 in 80 balls by lunch.
Of the West Indies’ bowlers, only Jason Holder bowled with the required discipline, conceding just seven runs from his five overs. Just as at Centurion, West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite will worry that the concession of 21 boundaries in the first session is way too generous.
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (capt), Ryan Rickelton, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada.
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood, Roston Chase, Kyle Myers, Joshua da Silva (wk), Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach.