Markram strikes ton but Proteas falter in first Test v Windies

Aiden Markram struck a sparkling century but the Proteas faltered in the final session of the first day of the first Test against the West Indies as they reached stumps on 314/8 in their first innings at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday.

Markram stroked his way to a sixth international century before he was completely cleaned up by a bullet yorker from Alzarri Joseph, with him out for a well-played 115 off 174 balls (18×4).

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Markram’s wicket came amongst a Proteas collapse that saw them lose seven wickets for 80 runs that brought the Windies right back into the match after being dominated during the first two sessions of play.

The Proteas had resumed after tea on 206/1, with Markram just three short of his milestone, and there were hearts in mouths with him on 99 when he tried to pull a short ball from Joseph down the leg side, with the Windies appealing for a catch and reviewing after the umpire said not out.

But the replay showed the ball clearly miss the bat and flick off Markram’s shoulder, which was the sound the players heard, which allowed him to punch the very next ball through the covers for four to reach his century with him looking extremely relieved in his celebrations.

However a few overs later Tony de Zorzi (28), on debut, ran himself out to spark the Proteas late day collapse as they slipped from 221/1 to 300/8 just before the close of play.

De Zorzi knocked the ball to deep point and trundled through for a comfortable two, but with Markram ball watching and De Zorzi inexplicably starting off down the pitch for a third run that wasn’t there, Tagenerine Chanderpaul whipped the throw in from the deep and keeper Joshua Da Silva superbly flicked the ball onto the stumps with him unable to make back his ground.

Captain Temba Bavuma was then trapped LBW for a second ball duck, Markram was bowled and Heinrich Klaasen (20) lived and died by the sword as he struck four boundaries but fell to a top edge off the bowling of Shannon Gabriel as they slipped to 262/5.

Regular wickets continued to fall as Senuran Muthusamy (3) didn’t offer a shot to a ball from Kemar Roach and was given LBW, Keegan Petersen (14) was also trapped LBW by Kyle Mayers and Kagiso Rabada (8) edged Jason Holder to the slips.

Test debutant Gerald Coetzee (11no) then struck his first two balls to the boundary and along with Marco Jansen (17no) they will hope to add some valuable lower order runs to the Proteas total on the morning of day two.

Dominating sessions

At the start of play the Proteas won the toss and chose to bat, with them dominating the first two sessions, thanks largely to a 141-run opening stand between Markram and Dean Elgar (71).

It was a relatively stress free first session, although Elgar was handed a life on 10, when he edged a ball from Mayers to Roston Chase in the slips, only for him to drop the regulation chance.

Elgar took his lifeline and brought up a solid half century just before they reached the lunch break on 99/0.

After lunch Elgar and Markram continued on their merry way, before Elgar attempted to upper cut a short ball from Joseph to the boundary, only to find Jermaine Blackwell in the deep, who took a good catch diving backwards after initially misjudging the trajectory of the ball.

That was the only wicket to fall over the first two sessions as Markram and De Zorzi took them safely to tea, on their way to a solid 80-run second wicket partnerhsip.