Ryan Rickelton promoted to open the batting in Tony de Zorzi’s injury-enforced absence, and Temba Bavuma  enjoying the form of his career, both scored hundreds on a perfect batting day at Newlands. The pair shared a 235-run stand, the highest fourth-wicket partnership by a South African pair against Pakistan and at Newlands.

The pair played perfectly complementary roles, with Rickelton scoring heavily on the off side (102 of his 176 runs came there) and Bavuma plundering the on-side. Together, they reeled off some exquisite drives and while Rickelton’s runs came in the areas straight down the ground, Bavuma was excellent on the flick and pull.

The volume of runs tells as much about the flatness of the pitch as it does about Pakistan’s attack, which lacked genuine pace. That may have been the only way to force an error on a surface that is playing exponentially better than it did last year when a vicious pitch saw the match end in 107 overs. Then, 23 wickets fell on the opening day. Now, the same strip which has similar mottled green patches, has played placidly and is expected to get better for batting over the next day and a half.

The ease of conditions aside, the runs still had to be scored. Rickelton and Bavuma put on a fine display against a Pakistan side that suffered an early blow. They lost Saim Ayub to what has turned out to be a match-ending injury. Ayub twisted his ankle in the field and was taken to hospital for further scans.  The PCB confirmed he would take no further part in the Test, and the extent of his injury would be assessed by specialists in London.

While shoulders dropped after Ayub was stretchered off, Pakistan came back well and took three wickets in the last 40 minutes of the morning session. Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, newly installed at No.3, and Tristan Stubbs will all question their shots after they got through Mohammad Abbas’ initial spell, where he posed the greatest threat.

Abbas bowled 19.3 consecutive overs at SuperSport Park last weekend for a career-best 6 for 54 and took the new ball at Newlands. His first delivery hit Markam on the 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. Markram survived on umpire’s call.

Rickelton was the more free-flowing of the opening pair and scored seven boundaries to Markram’s three, in an opening stand worth 61. Rickelton offered one chance in that time, when an edge off Khurram Shahzad fell short of second slip and South Africa went on their highest first-wicket partnership since March 2023. Against the run of play, Markram eventually offered a chance when drove Shahzad loosely to the 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. Abbas’ return after a seven-over break found Mulder’s outside edge to give Pakistan a second wicket. And Pakistan burgled another on the stroke of lunch when Stubbs stayed back to a tossed-up ball from part-time spinner Salman Agha and edged to Rizwan.

Pakistan squandered the opportunity to maximise their advantage after the break when they stuck with Aamer Jamal at one end and Agha on the other instead of bringing on one of their strike bowlers and allowed Bavuma to ease in. Bavuma got his first runs when he steered Jamal to deep third and unfurled a series of gorgeous drives to continue his fine form this summer.

Masood brought Mir Hamza on five overs after the break and Shahzad after eight overs. By then, Rickelton was into the 60s. He hit two boundaries off Shahzad’s first second-session over and the sting was taken out of Pakistan’s attack. They allowed South Africa easy run-scoring opportunities with the field spread and a variety of lengths.

Rickelton entered the 90s with back-to-back boundaries off Shahzad and quietly worked his way to 99. He only faced one ball in the next two overs as Bavuma kept strike but when Agha bowled one on his pads, he whipped it away to bring up a second hundred in three Tests. Two overs later Bavuma brought up fifty off 82 balls and South Africa went to tea on 184 for 3.

The evening session was all South Africa as Rickelton and Bavuma filled their boots. Bavuma smashed the innings’ first six when he mowed Agha over mid-wicket, and Pakistan may have been left to wonder about the wisdom of not employing a specialist spinner, even just as a holding bowler at that point. Rickelton scored South Africa’s second six, over mid-wicket, in an over where he took 14 runs off Jamal.

He reached 150 with a cover-driven four off Khurram, with Bavuma 11 away from a hundred. He got there seven overs later, with a single off Jamal and ran almost to the long-on boundary, pumping his arms in celebration before swishing his bat wildly at the media end. Bavuma’s emotions may have gotten the better of him when he edged Agha to Rizwan 17 minutes before the end of play. Since taking over as captain, Bavuma has scored three of his four Test hundreds and averages 57.78.

Rickleton and Bedingham saw out the day which Pakistan ended 10 overs short of the required 90.

Brief scores:
South Africa 316 for 4 (Ryan Rickelton 176*, Temba Bavuma 106; Salman Agha 2-55) vs Pakistan

[Cricinfo]