South Africa cruised to a mammoth score of 552 for five during the second Test against West Indies at Centurion on Thursday. A few milestones were conquered on the day by the South African batsmen, including Stiaan van Zyl’s century on his debut Test.
West Indies were determined to challenge the Proteas in their own backyard at the start of the scheduled three-match Test series. What transpired however, on the second day of the first Test was a complete mockery of the visitor’s bowling attack by the likes of Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and van Zyl, who accomplished a unique milestone of scoring a century on debut. Van Zyl, who plays for Western Province and the Cape Cobras in the South African domestic circuit, achieved the feat in 129 balls.
Following are the top scores by a South African batsman on his Test debut:
Player
Score
Opponent
Venue
Year
Jacques Rudolph
222*
Bangladesh
Bangabandhu, Dhaka
2003
Andrew Hudson
163
West Indies
Bridgetown
1992
Faf du Plessis
110*
Australia
Adelaide
2012
Stiaan van Zyl
101*
West Indies
Centurion
2014
Alviro Petersen
100
India
Kolkata
2010
Amla and de Villiers earlier broke the record for the fourth-wicket partnership by a South African pair of batsmen, adding 308 runs for the fourth-wicket which rescued the Proteas from a spot of bother early in their innings.
(Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, travelling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle @akb287)
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