Tea: South Africa 177 for 2 (Markram 111*, de Villiers 8*) v Australia
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Aiden Markram owns his style of batting: languid, fluent and dominant. Against a bowling line-up that lacked penetration or oomph on a pitch offering sufficient seam movement, Markram stroked his way to his fourth Test century, his unbeaten 111 carrying South Africa to a position of strength at tea on the first day.
Considering the events that unfolded over the past week, it was an unusually quiet day for Australia, literally and otherwise. The fallout of the ball-tampering chaos was at its worst on the fourth day of the Cape Town Test, and ensuing incidents seemed to have only worsened Australia’s morale in Johannesburg. South Africa’s scoring rate remained similar through the day: they added 88 runs in 28 overs in the first session and 89 runs in 27 overs in the second.
Markram was patient right through the morning. He waited for mistakes in length or line, particularly for width outside his off stump. A jaded Australian bowling line-up erred often: he scored 27 of his 53 runs before lunch, more than 50%, through point.
Hitting that area was fraught with risk when Nathan Lyon bowled and extracted plenty of turn. Markram then showed off his straight-bat range, including a delectable drive through cover and an extended lofted drive over mid-on, for six.
Australia’s plan at lunch may have been to bowl straighter, but that didn’t work either. Square on the leg side was a productive region after the break, as Markram powerfully flicked the fast bowlers and deftly nudged Lyon. Together, Markram scored 90 of 111 runs, more than 80% of his runs, square on both sides of the pitch.
Dean Elgar made a scratchy 19 off 47 balls, during which he made two errors against Lyon. In his first over, Elgar attempted to heave Lyon over midwicket, but didn’t account for atypically sharp turn on a first-day Wanderers pitch. The resulting skew off the outside half of his bat lobbed over cover.
In Lyon’s next over, Elgar made the same mistake, looking to work the ball against the turn. This time, a leading edge carried to mid-off, Australia’s first wicket of the day.
Australia’s only other wicket was of Hashim Amla. Batting on 27 off 80 balls, Amla wafted at a leaden-footed drive off Pat Cummins, in the middle of Australia’s best spell of the day. An outswinger, moving in the air and after pitching, found the outside edge. Peter Handscomb, slotting into Steven Smith’s No. 4 and second slip positions, took a fine, two-handed catch to his right.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo