Du Plessis, Elgar lead dominant batting display

Cape Town - Centuries from Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar, and 99 from Quinton de Kock, led a dominant batting performance by the Proteas on the opening day of the two-day tour match against a South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) XI at the Gliderol Stadium on Thursday.

The Proteas were bowled out for 489 in a near-complete outing with the bat and will have an opportunity to match it up with the ball on day two on Friday.  

Elgar and Du Plessis put together a 197-run fourth wicket stand, which, after the early wickets of Stephen Cook (0), Hashim Amla (9) and Rilee Rossouw (22), overpowered an inexperienced SACA XI attack as the day progressed.

The captain retired out on 102 off 112 balls after reaching his century with three consecutive boundaries, with Elgar following in similar fashion to retire his innings on 117.

The lower-order, anchored by an aggressive and flamboyant De Kock innings which was scored off 94 balls, also found some confidence with the bat, with Temba Bavuma (43) and Vernon Philander (41 retired out) making use of the opportunity against the red ball.

David Grant (2/82) and Michael Cormack (2/104) were the pick of the bowlers for the home team.

Bavuma says the batsmen will not be reading too much into their scores, but rather the execution of their skills in certain match situations.

“I felt quite comfortable and good,” he said at stumps. “It was good to be out there in the game situation, it beats the nets.

"All of the batsmen got a good run out there, I think we are quite comfortable with what we are doing out there, it’s important to keep knocking down those basics.

"For us, we are not going to take too much out of the scores and the individual performances," he explained.

"It’s more about the way we want to go about playing our cricket, I think we can tick those boxes, we are happy with that but not too much confidence or complacency will set in based on the high scores."

JP Duminy is suffering from a chest infection and will not take any part in the match.

Image: Gallo