Lunch South Africa 223 (Bavuma 53, Amir 4-62) and 81 for 1 (Amla 45*, Elgar 32*, Hasan 1-35) need 68 more runs to beat Pakistan 181 (Babar 71, Olivier 6-37) and 190 (Masood 65, Olivier 5-59)
Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar shared in an unbroken 81-run second wicket stand that left South Africa needing a further 68 to win the first Test against Pakistan at Centurion. Both men enjoyed slices of luck during a thoroughly absorbing morning session, but they gritted out an intense first hour and then reversed the pressure to take South Africa to lunch at 81 for 1.
In the early exchanges this morning, every ball was an event. Hasan Ali nipped one off the seam to remove Aiden Markram for a duck in his first over, and in a cauldron of building pressure, Elgar was kept on nought for 18 deliveries and Amla wasn’t able to score until his 14th. Amla finally got one off the bat in the sixth over, flicking Hasan dismissively to the midwicket fence, and followed that up with an authoritative pull to help South Africa breath a little easier.
Elgar was off the mark with a thick edge that flew directly between the third slip and gully fielders, and in Hasan’s next over Amla flashed a thick edge hard and straight to Fakhar Zaman at third slip, the ball bouncing off his chest and dropping to the ground in front of the sprawling fielder.
That was just the slice of luck Amla needed, and Elgar too had a huge piece of good fortune soon afterwards. Shaheen Afridi hustled through his first over and found the edge of Elgar’s bat with his sixth delivery, the ball flying low to Azhar Ali’s right at first slip. He appeared to have taken a sharp catch cleanly, but the on-field umpires Bruce Oxenford and S Ravi asked TV umpire Joel Wilson to have another look. The soft signal was out, but Wilson saw enough on the replay – the fingers of Azhar’s right hand having not quite got under the ball – to offer Elgar a reprieve.
Coach Mickey Arthur protested animatedly from the change-rooms, and Pakistan had lost two clear chances in consecutive overs. It wasn’t until before drinks, half an hour later, that Elgar scored his next runs off the bat, pinching a single off Afridi and then clipping Hasan through midwicket for four. The runs started to flow a little easier thereafter, but the half chances kept coming and Pakistan gambled a review when Amir returned to the attack and caught Amla’s forward press pad first.
Again, the luck was not with them and replays showed the ball missing off stump, and with every run now scored Elgar and Amla strengthened their grip on the match. Elgar took the partnership to 50 – and the requirement to under 100 – with a neat little clip to the midwicket boundary. Amla then swiped two boundaries off Amir’s seventh over, behind square on either side of the wicket, and started to tick nicely for the first time in this Test.
Elgar responded to Yasir Shah’s introduction shortly before lunch with a sweep to fine leg, while Amla was into the 40s with a pair of trademark shots off Hasan: the first off the front foot, opening the face of the bat, and the second a flowing pull to deep square. Barring a last-gasp miracle, this pair should now have done enough to assure their team of a win this afternoon.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo