South Africa has gained a dominating edge in the second and final fixture of the bilateral test series against Pakistan at Newlands, Capetown. The visitors ended Day 2 on 64/3 in response to Proteas’ colossal 615-run total.
The hosts started the day on 316/4, with Ryan Rickelton (176*) and David Bedingham (4*) at the crease. The veteran pacer, Mohammad Abbas quickly secured a breakthrough for Pakistan in the form of Bedingham (5).
Nevertheless, Rickelton continued his positive momentum and scored boundaries, while Kyle Verreynne supported him well. Soon, Rickelton got to his double ton with a firm punch towards the mid-off region. It was the first test double century by a South African batter in nine years at this venue.
Verreynne displayed his reverse sweeps, cut shots and cover drives to secure consistent boundaries for the side. The right-hander reached his fifty off 70 balls and soon pulled Aamer Jamal for two sixes in an over. At the Lunch break, the hosts were at 429/5.
Both batters used their feet quite well to come down the track and launch a six each against spinner Salman Agha. Verreynne scored his fourth test ton with a firm punch for a single towards the cover region.
Out of nowhere, Agha dismissed Verreynne (100), as the right-hander failed to clear the deep mid-wicket boundary. Nevertheless, Rickelton was exceptional with his strokeplay, while Marco Jansen got going with his sensational hitting.
Jansen used the depth of the crease to full effect, as he slammed fuller balls to the long-on boundaries and looked at his devastating best. Rickelton’s innings was put to an end by Mir Hamza, who got him caught at long-on for a terrific knock of 259 off 343 balls, with 29 fours and three sixes. His knock registered into the history books as South Africa’s joint-seventh highest Test score. At Tea, South Africa was at 566/7.
South Africa secured crucial breakthroughs to end Day 2 on a high
After Jansen (62) was dismissed, Keshav Maharaj (40) did the bulk of the scoring as South Africa went on to post an enormous total of 615. Agha and Abbas picked three wickets each for the visitors.
In response, Pakistan suffered a bad start, as Kagiso Rabada made captain Shan Masood (2) caught at the slips in only the first over of the innings. Coming in at No. 3, Kamran Ghulam exuded confidence with a couple of boundaries, however, Jansen breached his defense and sent him packing for 12.
In the ninth over, Rabada induced an edge of Saud Shakeel (0), who tried to drive the ball towards the cover region. Thereafter, Babar Azam got into the act with his cuts and flicks to accumulate odd boundaries.
In the end, Pakistan ended Day 2 on 64/3, with Azam (31*) and Mohammad Rizwan (9*) remaining unbeaten. It will be interesting to see if the duo can score big hundreds to pull back the team into the contest.
