South Africa in trouble as Sam Curran strikes with the ball:
South Africa vs England, the visiting side had a great start in the 1st Test as the star bowler, James Anderson, announced his return with a wicket on the first ball of the match. Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius made their Test debuts for South Africa. The home side finished the day on 277/9 in 82.4 overs.
South Africa lost Dean Elgar on a golden duck, and then Aiden Markram also lost his wicket after scoring just 20 runs. Zubayr Hamza played an inning of 39 runs from 72 deliveries, while skipper Faf du Plessis scored 29 runs from 80 balls.
The hosts lost 5 wickets for 111 runs. The debutant Rassie van der Dussen scored just 6 runs before getting caught by at the first slip on Sam Curran’s delivery.
South Africa vs England, Quinton de Kock misses his hundred by 5 runs:
Wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock held his nerves and played a crucial part in South Africa’s innings on Day 1 of 1st Test. De Kock shared an 87 runs partnership with the debutant, Dwaine Pretorius. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored 95 runs from 128 deliveries, missing his 6th Test hundred by just 5 runs.
Quinton de Kock's last six Test innings at home:
129
80
55
86
1
95A man in form. #SAvENG pic.twitter.com/SZUI6NJxqo
— ICC (@ICC) December 26, 2019
Dwaine Pretorius scored 33 from 45 balls, while Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada scored 6 and 12 runs, respectively. Vernon Philander, the bowling all-rounder who is expected to retire after the Test series, is still standing on the crease with 28 runs from 76 deliveries.
England’s Sam Curran claimed 4 wickets for 57 runs in his 19 overs. James Anderson bowled 20 overs and conceded 69 runs for 1 wicket. Jofra Archer also secured 1 wicket from 19 overs, while Stuart Broad took 3 wickets for 52 runs from his 17.4 overs.
Sam Curran has his second four-wicket haul in Test cricket ?
Will he get his first five-for today? #SAvENG pic.twitter.com/N1gADmfbHa
— ICC (@ICC) December 26, 2019
This is South Africa’s first international game after Graeme Smith became the new Director of cricket at Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Mark Boucher became the new coach. England’s team has also seen their share of trouble due to the sickness bug.
