Elgar, Markram help SA dominate first session

South Africa

Lunch South Africa 99 for 0 (Elgar 53*, Markram 42*) vs West Indies

Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram held their own in a near-perfect session as South Africa went into lunch at 99 for 0 on day one of the first Test against West Indies.
Temba Bavuma, in his first Test as full-time captain, won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first with the sun beating down in Centurion. Both Elgar, in his first Test after losing captaincy, and Markram, playing his first Test since August 2022, had a point to prove. On a surface that had a bit of indifferent bounce, the two batters kept South Africa ticking along.

Markram got going by flicking Alzarri Joseph through midwicket before Elgar clipped Kemar Roach past mid-on to get off the mark. West Indies did have a chance to get that early wicket, with Elgar edging a straightforward catch to third slip off Kyle Mayers from around the wicket. However, the fielder made a mess of it.

The short ball troubled Elgar often. Shannon Gabriel had him in all sorts, with a bumper around shoulder high, but Elgar’s top edge flew over the wicketkeeper’s head. The West Indies kept going short at him, but the former captain, to his credit, played it out decently and later accumulated a few runs as well with the hook.

Markram, on the other hand, back with renewed confidence after recently leading Sunrisers Eastern Cape at the SA20, played a couple of stunning cover drives to signal his intentions early. He was largely untroubled with whatever the West bowlers threw at him as South Africa brought up their fifty in the 14th over.

While Joseph cranked up the pace and had both batters guessing all along, he barely found any help from the other end. There were too many boundary balls all along with both batters settling in nicely. The two batters hit a total of 15 fours in 28 overs.

Elgar soon reached his half-century slapping a short-of-a-length Joseph delivery past point as the hosts ended the first session on the verge of 100.

South Africa opted for a four-pronged pace attack which includes debutant Gerald Coetzee alongside Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. Also making his debut was top-order batter Tony de Zorzi. Keshav Maharaj was surprisingly left out, with the hosts only going for a lone spinner in Senuran Muthusamy.

West Indies, meanwhile, made just one change from their last Test outing against Zimbabwe earlier this month. Kemar Roach made his way back into the side in place of Gudakesh Motie who was out with a lower-back injury.

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