South Africa vs Zimbabwe, Only Test - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: Zimbabwe tour of South Africa, 2017 Venue: St George's Park, Port Elizabeth Date & Time: Dec 26-Dec 29, 01:30 PM LOCAL

Morkel bowled a hostile spell on Day 1 © AFP

Crushing win!

It didn't take long for South Africa to finish things off. Muzarabani smashed a few before Maharaj castled him to secure s thumping innings and 120-run win. The visitors were bowled out for 121 after following-on. The left-arm spinner bagged a five-fer but the win was set up by Morkel who bagged a five-wicket haul in the first essay, while Markram scored a fluent hundred.

Zimbabwe bowled with purpose in the first innings but their batting was way below par. Hopefully, their batsmen will get better with experience.

0 0

Beast mode

From round the wicket, Morkel is one of the toughest fast bowlers to face for a left-hander. He extracts bounce and that awkward angle from slightly wide of the crease. Burl, on his debut, turned out to be his latest victim as he was cleaned up from round the wicket. He followed it up with a vicious and well directed bumper to Raza. It softened up the Zimbabwe batsman who then edged one behind. Morkel is bowling at his best.

Build Up

Morne Morkel. Tall fast bowler. Hits the bat hard at high pace and control. The Vereeniging-born cricketer has all the attributes to become a great fast bowler. However, something seemed to be missing. It perhaps was related to him consistently bowling short of a length and not trying to hit a slightly fuller length to produce the edge. A few critics also weren't sure about his temperament.

However, since his return from a shoulder injury this year, he has been a transformed bowler. He bowled impressive spells in England without much luck. And under lights on Day 1 of the D/N, four-day Test versus Zimbabwe, with the ball zipping around, he again took his game to great heights. His hostile spell resulted in Zimbabwe being reduced to 30 for 4, with Morkel himself picking up three scalps.

The Zimbabwe camp would be disappointed as for long periods of the day, they battled hard against their fancied opponents to restrict South Africa to 309 for 9. The hosts decided to declare as they perhaps wanted to bowl under lights.

For the visitors, Kyle Jarvis, Cremer and Mpofu shared 8 of the 9 wickets to fall. The trio also engineered a collapse in the final session which saw the home side lose their last four wickets for 11 runs.

The day also belonged to the promising opener, Markram, who crunched a fine hundred while AB de Villiers, on his return, essayed a fluent fifty. The South Africans, though, would be worried about the fitness of de Kock as he injured his hamstring.

Can the visitors put up a fight against the likes of Morkel, Philander and Rabada on Day 2? Or will South Africa steamroll their opponents? We will have the live updates in a few minutes time.

You can also share your views on the inaugural D/N Test played in South Africa and the first four-day Test in 44 years via the Twitter handle @fancricket12