Aiden shines on gloomy day for SA
ANTI-CLIMAX: PROTEAS COLLAPSE AFTER BIG STAND Resilient Markram bats himself into the record books.
After an heroic century by Aiden Markram had dominated the dramatic fourth day of the first Test, play ended in anti-climax as Australia had just one more wicket to get when bad light stymied their charge.
Chasing a mammoth 417 for victory, South Africa ended the penultimate day on 293 for nine. They had slumped to 49 for four before Markram finally found some partners willing to battle for survival with him. He and Theunis de Bruyn (36) added 87 for the fifth wicket, but the partnership which really had the optimistic believing a record chase was possible was the tremendous 147 Markram and Quinton de Kock put on for the sixth wicket, a record for the Proteas in the fourth innings of a Test.
Markram eventually fell for an epic 143 – the third highest fourth-innings score by an SA batsman – which lasted for 339 minutes and 218 balls. The 23-year-old was snapped up by wicketkeeper Tim Paine as he tried to run Mitchell Marsh down to third man, a fine catch that opened the door for the increasingly frustrated Australians.
Mitchell Starc then had a devastating effect on the lower-order, taking three wickets in five balls and leaving himself on a hat-trick.
But the usual Durban late-afternoon gloom had settled in by then and the left-arm quick was denied the chance to bowl another ball due to the bad light forcing the use of only slow bowlers.
Nathan Lyon and Steve Smith bowled the last nine overs without success as Morne Morkel survived 27 deliveries and De Kock reached stumps on a superb 81 not out, a great return-to-form knock that could have been a matchwinning one had the Proteas top-order shown more gumption.
Dean Elgar, caught behind off Starc for nine, Hashim Amla, trapped lbw by Josh Hazlewood for eight, and Faf du Plessis, bowled by Pat Cummins for four, could all have played their decent deliveries better; apart from Markram, the South African top-order has shown a singular lack of assured footwork and compact technique in this game.
But nothing beat the running out of AB de Villiers for a duck, having faced just one ball, for the sheer wastage of a key wicket. It was his call as Markram played the ball behind square, but the run was probably not on, especially not to David Warner, and the match situation certainly demanded that such unnecessary risks not be taken.
The dismissal left De Villiers as the South African batsman run out the most times in international cricket – his 28 occurrences “bettering” the previous record of 27 set by Jacques Kallis.