South African openers Aiden Markram and Marcques Ackerman dominated proceedings on the opening morning of the third and deciding Dafabet test match against Australia at YesPlay Newlands in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins had won the toss and asked Temba Bavuma's men to take first strike with Markam and Ackerman going to lunch on 140 without loss from 27 overs. Markram though was given a life when on 39 by Travis Head in the covers, dropping the opener from the bowling of Mitchell Starc 15 minutes before the luncheon interval.
Makram had struck nine boundaries and a six while Ackerman, playing in just his third test, brought up his maiden test fifty from just 62 deliveries, racing to 82 at lunch with 11 fours and two sixes.
Markram raised his bat for his 15th test fifty, and fourth against Australia, by cutting Nathan Lyon (6-0-33-0) square of the wicket for four in the penultimate over before lunch.
The pitch offered little to the Australian bowlers, hence the surprise when Cummins (7-0-39-0) decided to bowl first. All the bowlers looked bereft of ideas, with no clear strategy on where to bowl, hoping more for a wicket than anything else, as both batters offered little chance, despite Markram's lapse in judgement just before lunch.
The morning session brought about some record-breaking feats with the pair bringing up the first-ever century opening stand against Australia at Newlands, the previous best being 87 between Jack Siedle and Herbet Wade way back in 1936.
The century-stand was also just the 10th occasion the South African openers had reached three figures against Australia in 201 innings. The audacity of Markram and especially Ackerman was a sight to behold, as Ackerman hooked Cummins for six and then elegantly glanced the next delivery for four down the legside.
Shortly before lunch, Ackerman then struck Starc (7-1-39-0) for four consecutive boundaries, one of which looked like a shot out of EA Sports' Cricket 26 as he sat and let the ball glance off the face of his bat, over the slips and down to the boundary.
SOUTH AFRICA: Aiden Markram, Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Temba Bavuma (capt), Matthew Breetzke, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada.
AUSTRALIA: Travis Head, Matthew Renshaw, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wk), Cooper Connolly, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
--------------------------------------------------------
SPORTS PACKAGE
Watch every single ball of every Proteas match this summer with DStv’s new Sports package. Also includes the world’s best football and a Vodacom URC Match of the Week. All this for just R399 a month – click on the banner below
