Aiden Markram was on the verge of a sixth Test century as the Proteas reached tea in a dominant position on 206/1 on day one of the first Test against the West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday afternoon.
Markram was unbeaten on 97, having faced 149 balls and struck 16 fours in his innings, and had Test debutant Tony de Zorzi (22no) at the crease with him, with the pair sharing an unbeaten 65-run second wicket stand.
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It was a strong second session from the Proteas, to back up their good first session, with them scoring 107 runs while losing just one wicket.
Resuming after lunch on 99/0, Dean Elgar (71) extended their impressive first wicket partnership to 141-runs, with Markram reaching his half century along the way before Elgar became the only wicket to fall so far.
It was a short ball from Alzarri Joseph that did the business, with Elgar upper cutting the ball over the slips, only to find Jermaine Blackwood at third man, who initially misjudged the catch but recovered well to complete it diving backwards.
This brought De Zorzi in and along with Markram they eased to tea in a strong position and they will be keen to solidify it in the days final session.
Chose to bat
At the start of play the Proteas won the toss and chose to bat, with Elgar and Markram taking them through an unblemished first session.
Both batters were rarely troubled and feasted on some loose bowling, particularly on the off side where a number of boundaries were crashed through.
Elgar did live a charmed life early on as in the ninth over, on 10, he received a reprieve after a thick edge off the bowling of Kyle Mayers flew straight to Roston Chase at third slip, only for him to drop the regulation chance.
This allowed Elgar to bat on and bring up the opening pairs 50-run partnership with a single just before the drinks break.
Windies bowlers Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel were targeted thanks to some inconsistent lines from both.
Following the drinks break Elgar and Markram continued batting positively, before Jason Holder and Chase were introduced into the attack and slowed the scoring rate a bit going into the lunch break.
A few overs before the break Elgar reached his half century with a powerful cut to the boundary through point off the bowling of Joseph.
