None of South Africa’s batsmen were able to press on after making encouraging starts
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
England secured a slight advantage on the first day of the third Test in Johannesburg as a result of South Africa’s batsmen failing to convert their starts into bigger scores.
This was the theme throughout the day for the Proteas as their wastefulness proved costly in the end.
Opting to bat first, South Africa got off to a solid start before opener Stiaan van Zyl was caught behind off the bowling of Ben Stokes for 21.
Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla kept England at bay for a while as they amassed a 73-run partnership before Elgar was dismissed for 46 when he was caught behind off the bowling of Moeen Ali.
Amla followed shortly after for 40 as he was also caught behind, but only off the bowling of Steven Finn.
South Africa continued to lose wickets at regular intervals a short while later as skipper AB de Villiers and batsman Faf du Plessis were on their way back to the pavilion for 36 and 16 respectively.
Temba Bavuma, who made history in the second Test in Cape Town by becoming the first black African to score a century for South Africa, was unable to be the Proteas’ saviour on this occasion as he was run out by substitute fielder Chris Woakes for 23.
Wicketkeeper Dane Vilas, who had to fly to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth on the day of the match after Quinton de Kock was ruled out with a knee injury, managed to make 26 runs before he was caught by Ali at deep backward square off the bowling of Stuart Broad.
However, just when South Africa were looking extremely vulnerable, Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada launched a counter-attack towards the end of the day as they put together an unbeaten 42-run partnership before stumps was called.
Morris finished on 26 off 50 balls, which included four boundaries, while Rabada remained undefeated on 20 off 48 deliveries, which included two boundaries and a six.
Stokes and Finn picked up two wickets apiece, while Broad and Ali claimed one wicket each.
South Africa ended day one on 267/7 and will continue batting tomorrow at 10:00 local time or 08:30 GMT.