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Ryan Rickelton anchors South Africa as Pakistan chip away

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Published in Cricket
Friday, 03 January 2025 02:52

South Africa 72 for 3 (Rickelton 50*) vs Pakistan

Ryan Rickelton, promoted to open the batting in Tony de Zorzi's injury-enforced absence, scored fifty but was the only one of South Africa's top three to kick on as Pakistan made three important breakthroughs in the morning session. Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder and Tristan Stubbs will all be disappointed with their shot selection as Pakistan were rewarded for their patience in front of a nearly-packed Newlands.
For now, the spectators will be relieved that Newlands has not played the way it did last year when a vicious pitch saw the match end in 107 overs and South Africa bowled out for 55 by lunch on day one. The mottled green surface with slightly less grass than expected has played placidly and is expected to get better for batting over the next day and a half.

That will only make Pakistan more pleased that they took advantage of the errors which presented themselves.

Mohammad Abbas, who bowled 19.3 consecutive overs at SuperSport Park last weekend for a career-best 6 for 54, took the new ball and almost had immediate success. His first ball angled across Markram and hit his front pad and Pakistan thought they had the first wicket. Umpire Nitin Menon was unmoved so they reviewed but replays showed it was clipping the top of off but Markram survived on umpire's call.
Rickelton hit the first boundary of the morning, a well-timed flick through the on-side and the next two, on the other side of the 'v'. Markram found his rhythm shortly afterwards with back-to-back drives off the left-armer Mir Hamza, who was brought into this match for the injured Naseem Shah.
The first real trouble came in the next over when Rickelton edged Abbas through the cordon and Aamer Jamal and Saim Ayub chased it from gully. Jamal got to the ball first and Ayub was on hand to pick up the relay but seemed to roll over his ankle and appeared in sudden and severe pain. He received treatment on field, including strapping, and hobbled off before being taken to hospital for further scans.

Pakistan's mood dipped and the next five overs cost 22 runs, as South Africa's openers brought up a fifty-run stand. It is only their second half-century partnership since March 2023, after Markam and de Zorzi put on 55 against Sri Lanka in Gqeberha.

Abbas finally had the ball taken out of his hands after six overs, which meant he had delivered 25.3 consecutive overs in the series, and was replaced by Hamza from the other end as Saud Shakeel rotated his three premier quicks. The chance came from Khurram Shahzad, who had Markram driving loosely straight to substitute fielder Abdullah Shafique. After three ducks in the ODIs and no game time since, Shafique was under pressure and the ball went straight into and out of his hands. Markram was on 17.

No actual damage was done as, in the next over, Markram slashed at a ball that just moved away and inside-edged through to Mohammad Rizwan. Shahzad kept the pressure on and induced an edge off Rickelton but the chance fell short of the cordon, who were standing quite deep. That brought Wiaan Mulder to the crease, promoted above Tristan Stubbs for this match, but his stay at No.3 may be short-lived. Abbas returned after a seven-over break and his unerring accuracy found Mulder's outside edge to give Pakistan a second wicket.

Aamer Jamal was brought towards the end of the session, as was Salman Agha. He is expected to play a big role with the ball, after not bowling at all at SuperSport Park, and duly got a wicket in his first over. On the stroke of lunch, Tristan Stubbs stayed back to a tossed-up ball and edged to Rizwan.

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