South Africa vs Australia 2018: 4th Test, Day 1, 5 Talking Points

#1 Aiden Markram’s scores a brilliant 152 but late strikes help Australia end the day positively

Aiden Markram scored his second hundred of the series

When Markram scored heavily against smaller teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and then didn’t get a lot of runs against India, people felt he would struggle against top quality bowling attacks. However, he has proved his critics wrong.

After a gutsy 143 in the first Test, Markram failed in three consecutive innings before coming back strongly with a fluent, eye-catching 84. In this Test, he scored a brilliant 152 (his career-best score). He got off the mark with a nice boundary to backward point. From that point, he was largely untroubled. He did play and miss on a few occasions but looked positive throughout his innings.

He drove beautifully, pulled with conviction and used the crease well. He attacked Nathan Lyon early in his spell and never allowed him to settle. He shared decent partnerships with every batsman. His innings of 152 was certainly a splendid one and was his second hundred of the series and fourth of his career.

At 247/2, things were looking very good for South Africa as the Aussies looked a little lacklustre on the field. However, Cummins’ double strike (two wickets in two balls) brought Australia back into the game. After Markram and du Plessis were dismissed, de Villiers attacked a little more and registered a fighting half-century.

But debutant Chadd Sayers, who was the least impressive of the Australian bowlers up until that point, came back strong and struck twice in two balls. With the second new ball in hand, Sayers dismissed de Villiers to get his maiden Test wicket. And on the next ball, he got rid of night-watchman Kagiso Rabada to lead Australia's comeback.

Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock played out the rest of the day safely as the Proteas ended with 313/6.