Amla, Elgar steady Proteas in 3rd test

Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla put on an unbeaten 69 for the second wicket to make it South Africa’s morning as they guided their side to 75 for one at lunch on the opening day of the third test against Australia at Newlands.

After losing opener Aiden Markram early for a duck, Elgar (40) and Amla (31) came through a difficult first hour on a slow wicket that initially made scoring a challenge.

South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat, believing that if they could get through the first session without much damage, the wicket would flatten out and allow them to build a big first-innings total.

They lost Markram, however, with six runs on the board as he was well-taken at second slip by a diving Steve Smith off the bowling of Josh Hazlewood (1-15).

Visiting captain Smith made a surprise bowling change in the ninth over, bringing on spinner Nathan Lyon (0-7), whose four overs were tidy but he failed to create opportunities and eased the pressure on Elgar and Amla.

Lyon had twice got the wicket of Elgar in this series, the likely thinking behind the move, but it seemed at odds with the conditions.

South Africa managed just 31 runs in the first 15 overs of the session, but upped the tempo after that, scoring 44 in the next 13 to lunch as they began to look comfortable at the wicket.

The home side made two changes from the second test, restoring middle-order batsman Temba Bavuma to the lineup after his recovery from a finger injury, while seamer Morne Morkel came in for Lungi Ngidi, who was struggling with a toe problem.

Morkel has announced he will retire from all forms of international cricket at the end of this series and is currently on 297 test wickets.

Australia are unchanged from the first two tests, with seamer Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh having shrugged off minor niggles.

The four-match series is level at 1-1.