NZ v SA, 1st Test, Day 1 Review: Dean Elgar revives South Africa with a century after disastrous start

After defeating New Zealand in the ODI series by a 3-2 margin, South Africa came into the Test series as overwhelming favourites considering the rich vein of form they are in especially in the longest format of the game. After defeating Australia in their own backyard by a 2-1 margin, they steamrolled Sri Lanka 3-0 at home. The Kiwis were hoping to stage a comeback in the Test series and the beginning turned out to be exactly what the doctor had ordered for the hosts.

Winning the toss, South African captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and oped to bat. Openers Dean Elgar and Stephen Cook walked out in the middle. After a slow but steady start, Stephen Cook gave away his wicket in the 9th over with the score at 10. It was an error of judgement from Cook who left the ball alone from Trent Boult. The ball came back sharply and struck his pads plumb in front. He didn’t even consult his partner for a review and left the ground immediately.

Hashim Amla walked out in the middle and after his long vigil of 28 balls, the stalwart of the game was castled by left-arm pacer Neil Wagner. It was a full-length delivery and swung in late. Amla’s feet didn’t move an inch as he went for an expansive drive and there was a huge gap between the bat and the pad. The ball breached through his defence and disturbed the timbers.

Wagner got another in the same over as he removed JP Duminy in the final delivery of the over. It was a well-directed bouncer which cramped Duminy for room. He was in two minds whether to pull or leave and against a skiddy customer like Wagner the indecisiveness cost Duminy big time. It struck the helmet and then the gloves and was safely pouched by Ross Taylor in the slip. Captain Faf du Plessis joined Elgar in the middle and the duo looked to steady the ship with some sensible batting. With the score at 22/3, the visitors were looking down the barrel.

Du Plessis began in a confident fashion by smashing Jeetan Patel for a couple of boundaries while Elgar continued his good work and looked unruffled despite losing his partners at regular intervals. After a pretty sedating start, the duo started finding the boundary a bit more. Elgar was dropped in the 33rd over by BJ Watling of the bowling of Trent Boult and the southpaw went on to make full use of the life he got. To add insult to injury, Elgar smashed the next delivery for a boundary.

Elgar and Du Plessis struck a hat-trick of boundaries together in the 55th over of the bowling of Neil Wagner. The southpaw then smashed Jimmy Neesham for 3 more boundaries in the 57th over and Du Plessis followed it up with one more in the next over. Just when it looked the duo will take South Africa to a very big total, the captain was dismissed by Jimmy Neesham just after making a half-century. He was undone by the pace and zip of the 140 kmph delivery and managed to give a simple catch to Trent Boult stationed in the deep square leg region.

Temba Bavuma joined the southpaw in the middle and the duo looked to carry on from where Elgar and du Plessis left. Bavuma was unfazed with the precarious situation and looked in solid knick in the last 25 off overs of the day. The little man struck some wonderful shots and eased the nerves off. Elgar reached his 7th Test century in the 65th over and he was pretty satisfied with his knock. Both looked in good touch and took the visitors score to 229/4 at the end of the day’s play.

Neil Wagner was the wrecker in chief for the hosts who finished with figures of 2/59, with jimmy Neesham and Trent Boult also chipping in with a wicket each.

Brief Scores

South Africa 1st innings 229/4 (Dean Elgar 128*, Faf du Plessis 52, Neil Wagner 2/59) in 90 overs