Stiaan van Zyl becomes first South African batsman to score Test century on debut at home

Stiaan van Zyl is the fifth South African to score a century on Test debut.

Dec 18, 2014

By Amit Banerjee

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:

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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