South Africa have put themselves in a great position to win the Boxing Day Test match against Pakistan at SuperSport Park in Centurion. With the team fighting for a spot in the WTC final, the Proteas celebrated a great feat from debutant Corbin Bosch, who etched his name in the record books on December 27, breaking a 122-year-old milestone.
Bosch, who was already in the limelight earlier in the match with a four-wicket haul, also shone the bright light with the willow, scoring an unbeaten 81* runs. Coming in at No.8, his innings thus also became the highest individual score for any South African coming in that position and later in over a hundred years. Bosch’s attacking knocks included 15 boundaries as he scored at an impressive strike rate of 87 thus, playing a big hand in South Africa’s first-inning lead of 90 runs.
From 191/7, the hosts fought their way back to manage 301 before getting bowled out. It was a solid 89 off 144 balls for Aiden Markram which led the chase while the middle order – Tony de Zorzi 2, Ryan Rickelton 8 and Tristan Stubbs 9 fell without significant contributions.
At the close of Day 2, Pakistan were in a spot of bother at 88/3, only two runs behind when bad light intervened. Babar Azam (16) and Saud Shakeel (8) were the not-out batsmen as Pakistan aimed to repair the innings after Saim Ayub (27), captain Shan Masood (28) and Kamran Ghulam (4) had been dismissed. This now sets the stage for an exciting third day, as both teams will be eager to get ahead in this important Test match.
