I have studied the weather forecast for the coming week and there is virtually no rain forecasted so no weasther interruptions is to be expected,
I will give the team as soon as possible after the toss tomorrow morning - following which my impression of individual performances of players will continue subsequently.
SA is batting first and the only team change is dropping Mulder and replacing him with Linde.
The game is not being broadcasted in Oz, normally we get all of the Protea's international games.
Lunch is called after 25 overs un which SA scored good runs - especially with Alger scoring 46 runs - but unfortunately he caused the run out of Van der Dussen When the latter called for the run Elgar was ball watching and refused to run, Van der Dueasen was over hallway of he pitch Elgar was still standing and Van der Dussen was a in a no win situation. Bad play since a number of similar runs were successful.
As to Markhqam he was caught when defending against a swinging ball, He cannot be trusted to perform against swing bowling and there seems to be qiuestions about his performance on international level,
Du Plessis is very slow in making runs and is defending and not really making good enough progress on to replace van der Dussen, His run rate is too low at a slow rpo.
The opening bowlers were on the main expensive .
Mike, there's plenty of runs to be scored between overs 40 and 80.
Be patient.
Du Plessis failed again and is out.
Both Elgar and De Kock is out with the score 136 for 5. Elgar is the highest runscorer =at 56 but him causing the run-out of Van der Dussen reduced his impact on the match, De Kock failed imn a period where the runs dried up and he tried to play an attacking shot on the wrong ball.
The wheels are coming off a bit.
I have confidence in Bavuma on this pitch though.
...cumon little guy. A brave 80 will be good enough.
Bavuma run out!
<facepalm>
Bavuma ran himself out after he trieed to make two runs from a ball. He had 17 runs after facing 67 balls..
Runs have virtually dried up.
Linde with 25 from 50 balls faced is still batting with Maharaj with no runs from - balls faced,
Linde has the second highest number of runs and in fact all batsmen were substandard with the possible exception of Elgar - but he was bad through th running out of Van der Linde,
I do not see how this lot can make 200 runs in this innings, The batting was shit against spin bowling.
Maharaj out for a duck - score 179 for 7.
Linde and Rabada now batting - bad news, .
Linde - 35 runs - and Nortje - a du ck - is now both out. Score now 195/9
Ngidi out - score 220 all out - very bad show by the Proteas.
<double facepalm>
Kagiso with two early scalps already. 220 looking like 350 atm.
Deep trouble Pakistan find themselves in now...haven't hit 30 yet and 4 wickets down.
The Proteas bowlers will have a good chat and then come back fresh tomorrow.
They'll have a strict "make them play" mandate when play resumes tomorrow.
Let's hope they bowl close to the stumps and offer nothing that can be left alone.
The score at en of day 1 is 33/4.
KG has 200 wickets already and is 24/25.
Might he overtake Anderson one day?
Total let off by the Proteas this morning.
This was the session to win the game and they blew it.
Unless they can get a few quick wickets after lunch they'll struggle to come into the second innings behind by less than 100.
Mike's favourite bowler - Ngidi, strikes.
Pakistan 6 Down...40'ish behind
KG with the new ball
Ja, that 100 lead happened.
Looks like the Proteas will need about 350 in their second innings.
If they can make Pakistan chase 240'ish then they'll have a chance.
In the context of what a decent first innings score would be, not 220 but rather 350 or 400, the Proteas bowlers have done a decent job...but this morning they needed a bit more than decent.
Someone will have to get a hundred tomorrow.
I'll go for Rassie as our top scorer.
If Rassie is not rum out by Elgar again. Haysman said that Elgar has never been run out in his international career - but caused the run-out of three teammates in the Proteas previously - spo he is now ready for number 5.
Dave
Lets accept that none other than De Kock and Du Plessis has experience of batting on sub-continent pitches and that showed clearly, I fully expect that Du Plesssis would fail - but expected more from De Kock.
The effect of spin bowling om Sub-Continent pitches is where the problem lies/ The Pakistani spinners were all over the SA batsmen.
As I've said, for some unbeknown reason we're not getting coverage so I really can't comment other than to say that the poor batting performance of the Proteas is nothing new and should be of no surprise. Hey Houston, we have a problem....fix it!
So the Proteas ended up allowing the tail to wag endlessly.
The lead is 158.
...meaning SA will have to bat for well over a a hundred overs, probably needing about 420-440 in order to stand a slim chance of winning.
A big century aside, I can't see them managing that .
1-0 to Pakistan.
Solid start.
Ball is 12 overs old already.
Pakistan still huge favourites.
Madness from D1 aside, the pitch does seem to settle later on. SA will wanna play carefully until tea and then pick up the scoring in the final session.
Pakistan should come out of lunch with an aggressive field, looking to squeeze SA's cautious approach.
Probably sets up a counter-punch scenario for somebody...like Rassie hehe!
mike
another elgar failure
he must definitely be dropped now!
no point investing in old players h ey!
Some nice patience from the boys this morning.
Keep the grit going until tea please chaps.
Very mature batting from Rassie and Markram.
Still a long off but another 250 and it's game on.
...And now the collapse.