Dean Elgar ducked and danced in his crease Thursday as Australia’s seamers peppered him with short deliveries on Day One of their Test at Newlands.
Still the South African opener won the battle against the quicks with a composed innings of 121* to help South Africa to 266/8 at the end of the day’s play.
If the Aussies came to Cape Town to make a statement, they did so with ball in hand.
After removing Elgar’s opening partner Aiden Markram for a duck, they had their tails up early in the encounter after SA decided to bat first.
UPPED THE TEMPO: Yster AB de Villiers hammered 64. Photo: GAVIN BARKER/BACKPAGEPIX
Veteran Hashim Amla then joined Elgar in the middle and the two did well to take the shine off the new ball and steer the hosts to 75/1 at lunch.
It’s after lunch, though, that the Aussies started with their short bowling tactics to Elgar, who was dropped on 53 by Nathan Lyon off the bowling of main aggressor Josh Hazlewood.
Amla gave Hazlewood some reward for his bouncers when he pulled another straight into the hands of Pat Cummins - gone for 31 in an innings that lasted longer than two hours.
STEADY INNINGS: Proteas star Hashim Amla. Photo: RYAN WILKISKY/BACKPAGEPIX
While the Aussies spat fire at South Africa, the hosts were not going to just sit back.
And when AB de Villiers joined Elgar in the middle after lunch, the two upped the tempo.
True to form, De Villiers took the game to the Aussies, scoring 64 off 95 balls to take the pressure off Elgar and allow him to play his natural game.
BOUNCER: Hazlewood. Photo: MUZI NTOMBELA/BACKPAGEPIX
But with De Villiers back in the hut, South Africa’s batting order suffered a horror collapse.
Captain Faf du Plessis (5) was first to go, with Temba Bavuma (1) Quinton de Kock (3), Vernon Philander (8) and Keshav Maharaj (3) also losing their wickets cheaply.