Dan Paterson + Corbin Bosch = 35 years 258 days + 30 years 99 days = 65 years 357 days.
You could say a pair of ‘66-year-olds’ carried South Africa on their shoulders (or rather, with ball and bat) to put Pakistan far behind in just two days in the Boxing Day Test at Centurion.
So, what did these two ‘veterans’ do? Outshining fast-bowling stars Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, Paterson and Bosch were pivotal in bowling out Pakistan for 211 on the first day of the Test. Playing only his seventh Test, Paterson claimed 5 wickets for 61 runs, while debutant Bosch took 4 wickets for 63.
With the ball doing wonders, the pair also rescued South Africa with the bat. At 5 wickets down for just 35 runs, the team was in deep trouble after slipping from 178/4 to 213/8. Bosch led the charge with support from Rabada and Paterson. He added 41 runs with Rabada (13) for the ninth wicket and 47 runs with Paterson (12) for the last wicket. Bosch remained unbeaten on 81 runs, which is now the highest score by a No. 9 batter on debut.
Bad light ended play early, with Pakistan batting in their second innings and scoring 84/3, trailing by 6 runs.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan: 211 & 88/3 in 21.3 overs (Ayub 28, Masood 28, Babar 16*, Shakeel 8*; Rabada 1/31, Jansen 2/17).
South Africa 1st innings: 301 (Markram 89, Bosch 81*; Shehzad 3/75, Abbas 1/79, Naseem 3/92, Jamal 2/36, Ayub 1/3).
—End of Day 2
