South Africa: 72/3 (Ryan Rickelton 50*; Salman Agha 1/1)
NEWLANDS, CAPE TOWN - A free-flowing Ryan Rickelton guided South Africa to lunch with a dominant maiden half-century on Day One of the second and final Test between the Proteas and Pakistan at Newlands in Cape Town.
With Temba Bavuma having called correctly at the toss, South Africa sent Rickelton, who was opening the batting for the first time in Test cricket following Tony de Zorzi's omission due to a left thigh strain, to bat alongside a seasoned opener in Aiden Markram.
Great start by Ryan Rickelton! Keep going 🫡
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) January 3, 2025
#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #SAvPAK pic.twitter.com/cpL5h951AV
Facing the first ball of the Test, Markram was exposed by a brilliant away swinger from Mohammad Abbas, a ball that struck the right-handed batter on his right thigh, leading the visitors to appeal and review following a turned-down appeal.
Markram survived due to a close umpire’s-call referral, however, the right-handed batter’s weakness with deliveries in and around the off-stump line was exposed right from the get-go.
Though the 30-year-old survived the first hour of play, scoring 17 runs in the period, he was undone with a similar delivery, this time from Khurram Shahzad (1/17). A hard-handed poke at the delivery found the outside edge straight to Mohammad Rizwan behind the stumps to hand the visitors their first scalp.
All the while, Rickelton (50*) seemed unphased, driving straight down the ground and through the covers with relative ease as the left-handed batter reached his maiden half-century while striking at just under 70 strike rate.
With Markram back in the pavilion three overs into the second hour of the session, Wiaan Mulder walked in at three as one of coach Shukri Conrad’s many out-of-the-box thinking shuffles of the batting order.
Though Mulder (5) looked good in his 18-ball stay at the crease, smashing a straight drive off Abbas at one point, he was undone by Abbas (1/27) as Pakistan crawled their way back into the contest late into the first session.
To add salt to the wound, Salman Agha (1/1) induced an outside edge off Tristan Stubbs’ bat on the stroke of lunch to leave South Africa three wickets down with 72 runs on the board.
That meant South Africa suffered yet another batting collapse, losing three wickets for 20 runs in the second hour of play, a feat that the coach and captain emphasised needed immediate rectifying in this Test match and leading into the World Test Championship final at Lord’s this coming winter.