SA vs PAK | Twitter reacts to Patterson and Bosch dent Pakistan as Proteas take control on Boxing Day

Aiming to cement their top spot in the World Test Championship, South Africa’s decision to field first was backed well by their new ball bowlers. But the opening pair of Saim Ayub and Shan Masood withstood them for the first hour, albeit the edges were beaten quite often. Captain Temba Bavuma summoned debutant Corbin Bosch after the first session’s drinks break and the quick trapped the opposition skipper on his international career’s first delivery. Dane Patterson followed it up by baiting Babar Azam and Saim Ayub before the debutant removed Saud Shakeel, leaving Pakistan at 88/4 in 24 overs at the cusp of Lunch.

Resuming from where they left off, Mohammad Rizwan and Kamran Ghulam showed composure against the old ball and kept the scoreboard ticking. The pair added 81 runs together before Paterson claimed his third wicket as Bavuma’s subtle change in bowling worked. Rizwan followed suit after Ghulam was a goner with a fifty. Bosch and Paterson hunted as a pair by minimising the opposition to 209/9 in 57 overs at Tea.

Although the extended thirty minutes of play in the second session didn’t yield the lone wicket the Proteas aimed, it took three balls for Marco Jansen to nail the task as Pakistan folded for 211.

In response, Tony de Zorzi failed to gleam with the bat but Aiden Markram tried to neutralise the Pakistani attack with formidable technique. Ryan Rickelton looked well during his short stay but Khurram Shahzad outnumbered him to scalp his second wicket in the seventh over. Subsequently, Tristan Stubbs and Markram consolidated 42 runs together before the former was lbw in the 16th over. However, Markram continued to excel under bright conditions as South Africa concluded the day at 82/3.

Great day for him!

Yeah that was it!

LOL!

Yes!

Agreed!

Comments are closed.