Rain heavily disrupted the first morning session of the second test between the Proteas and Australia at St George’s Park in Gqeberha, as the hosts were only able to face less than six overs after a delayed start, before the rain returned leading to an early lunch.
Australia won the toss and chose to bowl, but rain arrived before the 10am start of play and a two hour delay followed before play finally got started at 12pm, with lunch scheduled for 1:30pm.
But just 5.3 overs were possible before the bad weather returned and saw the Proteas reach lunch on 11/0, with both openers very watchful.
Aiden Markram hit two boundaries in his unbeaten 10 off 18 balls, while Marques Ackerman, opening the batting on his Proteas debut, had only managed one from 15 deliveries.
Both teams will now hope that the rain clears up so that they can get some decent play in, although poor weather is forecast until Monday afternoon, when it is expected to dry up.
It is a very important match for both teams, as the Proteas try to draw things up ahead of the third and final test in Cape Town from the 27th to 31st October, while Australia are hoping to clinch the series after a big 214-run win in the first test in Durban earlier this week.
PROTEAS: Aiden Markram, Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (capt), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada
AUSTRALIA: Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Renshaw, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood
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