England make lightning-quick start to first Test only for South Africa to consolidate smartly

Lunch on day one of the first Test: South Africa are 79 for 3

Anderson removed Elgar with the very first ball (Getty)

Despite a wicket with the first ball of the series, England went into lunch on day one only just ahead of South Africa who consolidated smartly to close out the session on 79 for three. The hosts, though, will rue a couple of starts thrown away by their top order.

Prior to the match, James Anderson was presented a commemorative cap by his first captain Nasser Hussain to make his 150th Test. No fast bowler has played as many in game’s history and it speaks volumes that, at 37 years of age, he remains an absolute must-pick. Typically, it was him who got England off to the perfect start.

When Joe Root said he wanted to exploit the live grass on the pitch by bowling first, he presumably did not mean the patch a foot wide of Dean Elgar’s leg stump. Nevertheless, it worked: the left-hander with the faintest tickle through to Jos Buttler giving the series it’s first wicket with its first ball. A platinum duck – the first inflicted by an England bowler since Ryan Sidebottom gave one to Darren Ganga in 2007.

However, it was one ball that took about 10 minutes after the start was held up because of an injury sustained to a local photographer, who rolled his ankle in front of the sight screen. He was eventually stretchered off by members of England’s backroom staff, and perhaps it might have been a hold-up that broke Elgar’s concentration.

But while that is purely conjecture given the uniqueness of the dismissal, it was certainly a lapse that gifted England their second. Having made his way to 20 from 22 balls, Aiden Markram chipped a tame ball from Sam Curran into the hands of Jonny Bairstow at midwicket.

Elgar went for a platinum duck (Reuters)

It was an innings in keeping with Markram’s last 18 months: a promising start followed by an avoidable end. The 25 year-old’s last of his four centuries came 20 innings ago, in March 2018, and the downturn is concerning even if, for the time being, it’s not quite at a stage where his place is up for debate. There’s certainly enough credit in the bank to let him find form this series.

Number three batsman Zubayr Hamza made sure not to repeat the mistakes before him and initially looked accomplished. The Western Province right-hander took time to get settled, but cashed in when Jofra Archer served him two half-volleys which were hit for consecutive fours, through cover and then inside mid on.

Without wishing to take too much away from him, you could tally his improved run rate with a loss of cutting edge from England which perhaps was more to do with the pitch than their plans. Third slip was regularly vacated with men in front of the bat favoured by Root for all his bowlers.

But just as Hamza was getting away – another beauty of a cover drive taking him to 39, complete with a pose held for posterity – Stuart Broad forced him to defend away from his body and give Ben Stokes at second slip a simple catch.

The captain, Faf du Plessis, remains firm on 14 fro 49 balls, along with debutant Rassie van der Dussen on 4.