Fast bowler Corbin Bosch continued his strong debut with a record-breaking half century to help give South Africa the advantage in the first test against Pakistan on Friday. Corbin Bosch’s unbeaten 81 off 93 balls — the highest by a No. 9 batter on his test debut — earned South Africa a meaningful 90-run first innings lead as the home team got bowled out for 301.
South Africa’s Corbin Bosch continued his excellent outing on the field in his debut Test. The pace all-rounder was sensational on Day 1, picking 4 wickets with the ball as Pakistan folded for 211. On Day 2, Corbin Bosch showed his brilliance with the bat. SA were 213/8 at one stage as Bosch hammered an unbeaten 81 to help his side score 301/10.
Day 1 : Morning Session : Aiden Markram inches closer to century as South Africa eye lead vs Pakistan
South Africa continued to eat into Pakistan’s paltry lead as they added 98 runs in the first session on Day 2 in Centurion. Aiden Markram continued from his overnight score of 49, remaining unbeaten at Lunch on 81. The hosts are currently 180 for 5, trailing by 31 runs. The visitors, however, managed to pick up key wickets of Temba Bavuma and David Bedingham to earn some respite in an otherwise tough session for them.
Only 24 overs were bowled in the session, once again highlighting the poor over-rates in the Test match, following the 79 overs which were bowled on Day 1. Pakistan were wayward in the first hour of play with the ball, gifting looseners as Markram and Temba Bavuma gleefully cashed in. Markram moved to his half-century with two boundaries off Naseem Shah on the offside, caressing the ball through the covers.
At the other end, Mohammad Abbas managed to trouble Bavuma as he got a couple to hold its line. This was followed by Naseem inducing an edge of the batter which raced to the boundary, falling in the gap between third slip and gully. A fruitive passage of play followed when the hosts managed to find the boundary regularly over the next four overs as they pounced on the fuller deliveries by Abbas and Naseem.
The first-change bowler, Aamer Jamal, too was ineffective at the start of his spell, lacking in pace to force the issue against the South Africans. The hosts had added 51 runs by the time drinks was taken . But an over after the drinks break, Jamal got Bavuma to nick off to the wicketkeeper for 31. It brought an end to the 70-run stand.
This brought Bedingham to the crease who, after a few sighters, creamed Abbas to the fence for a couple of boundaries. Abbas then strayed on line bowling too straight which ricocheted off the batter’s pads for another four.
Bedingham continued to find the fence with relative ease as Naseem and Shahzad bowled very straight lines to him. Pakistan also burnt a review after an LBW appeal against the southpaw batter was going down leg. Against the run of play and on the stroke of Lunch, Bedingham threw away his innings with a loose shot nicking to first slip.
Day 1 : Post Lunch Session : Debutant Corbin Bosch scores 81*alongside Markram’s 89 to take SA to 301 all out
After a four-wicket haul on Day 1, debutant Corbin Bosch’s 81* alongside a vigilant 89 from Aiden Markram took South Africa to 301 with a lead of 90 runs at the Tea break on Day 2 in Centurion. Khurram Shahzad and Naseem Shah picked up three wickets apiece for the visitors.
Corbin Bosch came to the crease with South Africa on 191 for 7. Aiden Markram on 87 and Naseem Shah was in the middle of a marathon ten-over spell. Naseem had done the damage either side of lunch after he pulled his length back. That probed a well-set David Bedingham outside off and drew an edge off the back-foot drive to first slip, which sparked a collapse.
Post lunch, Naseem resumed with the same determination. He had Kyle Verreynne caught in the slips off the 14th ball of the second session, playing a loose drive to a ball on fifth stump. Two overs later, he tested Marco Jansen with a tighter line and drew an edge but Ayub put it down at gully. It would not have mattered as Naseem had over-stepped. He did not have to wait too long to rectify his error. His next ball was back of a length and angling away, Jansen edged and was caught behind.
In contrast to the first session where Naseem Shah was down on pace, within his first over of the second session he began to clock more than 140 kmph. The visitors struck in the third over after the Lunch break as Kyle Verreynne nicked behind to third slip off Naseem after attempting a booming drive. Two overs later, Jansen fell to a similarly innocuous shot as he poked at one well outside his off-stump which nestled in the hands of Mohammad Rizwan.
At that point, Markram might have been wondering if he was running out of partners. Bosch provided the answer with back to back boundaries off Khurram Shahzad and then two more off Naseem and South Africa settled. Markram faced 14 of the 30 balls that were bowled after Corbin Bosch got to the crease and added only three runs to his total before he was bounced out.
Shahzad set him up with a couple of deliveries just back of a length, then one on a good length and then the snorter. Markram was not expecting it and edged to Mohammad Rizwan to fall 11 short of what would have been a second century this year.
South Africa only led by two at that point and Pakistan had the opportunity to keep things fairly even but they were taken apart by Bosch for the second day running. He was aggressive on front and back foot and had a disciplined partner in Rabada, who pulled out one of the most eye-catching cover drives of the game.
Corbin Bosch began his innings with couple of boundaries off Khurram Shahzad. He then counter-attacked Naseem with a streaky boundary before guiding the ball to third-man levelling the scores with Pakistan. But Markram from the other end, fell eleven short of a ton as he gloved a pull to Rizwan. survived an edge as Pakistan didn’t have a third slip.
Pakistan then burnt their third review in their approach to make further inroads despite the ball beating the bat by a long way. With the game in the balance, Corbin Bosch plundered Naseem for consecutive boundaries to heap the pressure back on the visitors. He followed it up with a pull to the fence off Shahzad as he raced into the 40s.
When Aamer Jamal was brought back on half an hour before tea, Rabada’s patience ran out. He swiped across the line and sent the ball aerially in the direction of the non-striker. Babar Azam took a good catch at short midwicket, looking into the sun to end what was becoming a frustrating partnership for Pakistan.
The ever impressive Jamal picked up Kagiso Rabada as he heaved one to Babar Azam with South Africans lead being only 43. Corbin Bosch then farmed the strike and brought up his 50 on debut, becoming the first South African to achieve a double of a four-wicket haul and 50-plus score on Test debut for South Africa.
Bosch would go on to get his milestone and reached fifty with a stunning cover drive. His is the second-fastest fifty by a South African on debut. Then Paterson swung and scored four off Jamal and six when he hit Abbas over long-off. Desperate to end the lower-order resistance, Naseem was brought back after a brief break and bowled four more overs but could not get the breakthrough.
Instead it was the part-time spin of Ayub, the only spinner used in the match so far, that did the trick. Paterson tried to launch him out of the ground but skied it to mid-off where Shahzad ran circles before taking the catch. He then farmed the strike as much as possible with Dane Paterson and slammed 31 more runs in the next 40 deliveries he faced as the hosts went past the 300-mark. Saim Ayub broke the final stand of 47 runs after Dane Paterson skied one to mid-off on the stroke of Tea.
Day 1 : Afternoon Session : Late strikes put SA in control against Pakistan on Day 2
The opening Test continued to turn towards South Africa’s favour after Aiden Markram scored 89 and Corbin Bosch’s 81* to take the hosts to 301 and giving them a 90-run lead at the innings break. Saim Ayub and Shan Masood notched up a 49-run opening stand but the South African bowlers picked up three wickets late on the day to leave the visitors two runs behind at 88 for 3 in Centurion.
Pakistan began their innings with a flurry of boundaries as Saim Ayub flicked one for four before following it with a drive through point to the fence off Kagiso Rabada. Bosch was given the new ball in the second innings and was met with the same treatment by the young Ayub with two boundaries to unsettle him. It was sandwiched by a streaky boundary from the bat of Shan Masood.
The visitors had raced away to 48 in 10 overs before South Africa’s talisman Rabada induced Ayub to play a booming drive after pitching one up but the batter instead had his off-stump dismantled. First change Dane Paterson honed in on his lines testing Babar Azam and managed to square him up a couple of times but the out-of-form batter got lucky with some edges falling short of the slip cordon.
His partner and skipper Masood, however, was not as fortunate as he poked a ball outside off by Marco Jansen to Tristan Stubbs at third slip as Pakistan lost both their openers still 20 runs behind. Things got worse for the tourists as Kamran Ghulam edged one to gully. Saud Shakeel came out with intent as he carved two boundaries to bring the deficit down to two runs before bad light stopped play late on the day.
South Africa started poorly with the ball in the second innings. Rabada and Corbin Bosch shared the new ball but both were too short and too wide in their opening spells. Ayub and Shan Masood played aggressively and raced to 41 in the first seven overs before Temba Bavuma brought on Paterson from Corbin Bosch’s end.
His first two overs cost five runs and brought a semblance of pressure which was all Rabada needed to adjust back to his best. In his sixth over, he produced an absolute jaffa on a length and nipping away. Ayub couldn’t get behind the line of the ball as it curved to hit the top of offstump. Rabada finished a seven-over spell with figures of 1 for 31.
Jansen took over from him and immediately looked a threat with the bounce he generated. Masood negotiated his first over but when Jansen found even more lift in the second, he hung his bat out and edged low to Tristan Stubbs at third slip. In Jansen’s next over, Kamran Ghulam, who scored 54 in the first innings, edged to Ryan Rickelton in the gully. That catch needed to be looked at a few more times but Rickelton appeared to have fingers under the ball and Ghulam’s short stay was over.
Saud Shakeel benefitted from loose bowling towards the end of the day and struck two authoritative boundaries before bad light caused an early end to play.
Road Ahead on Day 3 for South Africa and Pakistan
Corbin Bosch’s dream outing continued as he scored his maiden half-century off 46 balls and the highest score by a No.9 batter on debut in Tests as he built South Africa’s 90-run first-innings lead. Pakistan ate into most of that in their second innings but lost three wickets and remained two runs behind, leaving South Africa with their noses in front.
The hosts, who need one more Test win to guarantee a place in the World Test Championship final, were at risk of squandering the opportunity to get ahead after collapsing from 178 for 4 to 213 for 8 but a 41-run stand between Bosch and Kagiso Rabada and a 47-run last-wicket partnership between Bosch and Dane Paterson gave them a healthy lead.
They did not maximize the advantage immediately and Pakistan’s opening pair of Saim Ayub and Shan Masood put on 49 inside 11 overs before they lost 3 for 25 on a day that ebbed and flowed, more from entertainment than the quality of the cricket. Both sets of batters will look back in some anger at the way they were dismissed.
South Africa’s middle order have questions over some ordinary shot selection while Pakistan, aside from their first innings collapse, now have to deal with signs of variable bounce as they look to build a target they can defend. Amongst those bigger picture narratives, was Corbin Bosch’s delight as he ended unbeaten on 81 and was given the new ball in the second innings in a match where he has had a Midas touch.
Corbin Bosch has posted the highest score by a No. 9 batter on debut in Test cricket. He broke the record of Milan Rathnayake (Sri Lanka) – 72 (135) – vs England (Manchester, 2024). He also became the first player in the history of the sport to score a half-century and take a four-fer on debut. Corbin Bosch registered his career-best score in First-Class cricket. Notably, 69 was his best score coming into this contest. He has raced to 1,376 runs with the help of 11 fifties. As per ESPNCricinfo, he averages close to 41.
Corbin Bosch waves at the crowd as he goes to the dressing room. The two on-field umpires are still out in the middle, but there’re a lot of dark clouds hovering around. South Africa’s day with the late wickets ensuring that Pakistan’s strong start to the second innings was curbed. Saim Ayub started with a bunch of boundaries before he was castled by a Rabada rocket.
Marco Jansen, brought in as the 4th bowler in this innings struck twice, he had the Pakistan captain edging to 3rd slip and then had Kamran Ghulam caught at gully. The visitors are still 2 runs adrift of making the hosts bat once again. The bounce has started to vary, the odd one is keeping low, but it is still a decent wicket to bat on, especially if you get a start.