The cricket has resumed in South Africa, and it has brought much relief to all the cricket lovers around the world who for the last few days had to endure a lot of emotions and negativity following the sandpaper gate that took place in the third Test at Cape Town. The Fourth Test is the last match in the series and South Africa had a very good outing today on the second day of the Test.
Captain FAF Du Plessis won the toss and chose to bat first. The openers responded to the captain’s call and provided a solid platform for others to build on. The opening pair marched past 50 and Markram continued on his merry way. Aiden Markram, who scored his fourth Test hundred and a maiden 150+ score earned praises from everyone around the globe including Virat Kohli.
After losing Hashim Amla, Markram paired up with AB De Villers and both the batsmen entertained the capacity crowd. At one stage, South Africa was running towards a mammoth total in the range of 600-700 with the current score being 247/2.
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The dreams got shattered as Pat Cummins made two quick break-throughs. He removed the centurion Markram and the Proteas Captain FAF Du Plessis in a quick succession to leave South Africa reeling at 247/4. Young Temba Bavuma and Quinton De Kock later took the mantle of scoring.
Keshav Maharaj ended the innings with a flurry as he wallopped the Australian bowling with a knock of 45 in 51 balls that consisted 4 fours and 2 sixes. South Africa ended with the score of 488. Notably, there was one national record established in the process.
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South Africa in total managed six 50+ runs partnership on their way to the total of 488. The highest was 105 by Markram and AB De Villiers for the third wicket. Markram featured in three of these partnerships. The 50-plus partnership was for the 9th wicket as Bavuma and Maharaj took South Africa from 412/8 to 488/9.
Although there have been 18 such previous instances of six 50-plus partnerships in one Test innings in international cricket, this is the first time it is done by South Africa.
