South Africa on top after Pakistan bowled out easily in 2nd Test

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Opener Aiden Markram made a return to form as he scored 78 to help South Africa into a strong position on the opening day of the second Test against Pakistan at Newlands on Thursday. Markram’s contribution put South Africa on 123 for two wickets at close, 54 runs behind after bowling out Pakistan for 177 at tea. South Africa, who won the first of the three-Test series by six wickets in Pretoria last week, will be confident of building a substantial first-innings lead after their four-man seam attack ripped through the Pakistan batting line-up. The 24-year-old Markram, who struggled on tour in Sri Lanka in July and in the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan, was bowled on the last ball of the day by Shan Masood. Hashim Amla, who is 24 not out, will resume on Friday with captain Faf du Plessis, who went out for a pair in the first Test. “We have to start well again and build those partnerships,” said veteran bowler Dale Steyn after the close. The solid home batting performance contrasted with Pakistan’s opening innings as they were flayed with a constant barrage of pace. “South Africa were pretty unrelenting with all their quicks (pace bowlers),” Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said. “We have no option but to come in tomorrow and first look to control the run rate, hopefully building pressure and get wickets.” Duanne Olivier added to his 11 wickets in the first Test with four more as Du Plessis’ decision to put Pakistan into bat, and go with a seam-only attack on a quick wicket, was vindicated. Pakistan were teetering at 75-5 at lunch and lost five more wickets before tea despite 56 from captain Sarfraz Ahmed, who went out to an injudicious uppercut shot just when a fightback looked on the cards. Masood made 44 with Olivier’s figures of 4-48 bookended by Steyn, who took the first wicket of the day and the last two of the Pakistan innings for 3-48. SCOREBOARD

 Pakistan  1st innings
 Imam ul-Haq     lbw Vernon Philander                          8
 Fakhar Zaman    c Temba Bavuma b Dale Steyn                   1
 Shan Masood     c Quinton de Kock b Kagiso Rabada            44
 Azhar Ali       c Hashim Amla b Duanne Olivier                2
 Asad Shafiq     c Dean Elgar b Kagiso Rabada                 20
 Babar Azam      c Faf du Plessis b Duanne Olivier             2
 Sarfraz Ahmed   c Quinton de Kock b Duanne Olivier           56
 Mohammad Amir   Not Out                                      22
 Yasir Shah      c Faf du Plessis b Duanne Olivier             5
 Mohammad Abbas  c Quinton de Kock b Dale Steyn                0
 Shaheen Afridi  c Quinton de Kock b Dale Steyn                3
 Extras          8b 2lb 1nb 0pen 3w                           14
 Total           (51.1 overs)                        177 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-9 Zaman, 2-13 ul-Haq, 3-19 Ali, 4-51 Shafiq, 5-54 Azam, 6-114 Khan, 7-156 Ahmed, 8-162 Shah, 9-163 Abbas, 10-177 Afridi

 Bowling             Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex
 Dale Steyn        15.1   4  48   3  3.16  1w
 Vernon Philander    11   3  36   1  3.27
 Kagiso Rabada       10   2  35   2  3.50  1nb
 Duanne Olivier      15   3  48   4  3.20  2w

 .....................................................
 South Africa  1st innings
 Aiden Markram  b Shan Masood                       78
 Dean Elgar     c Sarfraz Ahmed b Mohammad Amir     20
 Hashim Amla    Not Out                             24
 Extras         0b 1lb 0nb 0pen 0w                   1
 Total          (30.0 overs)                     123-2
Fall of Wickets : 1-56 Elgar, 2-123 Markram
To Bat : de Bruyn, du Plessis, Bavuma, de Kock, Philander, Steyn, Rabada, Olivier

 Bowling         Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex
 Mohammad Amir    8   2  25   1  3.12
 Mohammad Abbas   9   0  45   0  5.00
 Shaheen Afridi   9   1  34   0  3.78
 Yasir Shah       3   0  14   0  4.67
 Shan Masood      1   0   4   1  4.00

 .............................
 Umpire         Bruce Oxenford
 Umpire         Joel Wilson
 Video          Sundaram Ravi
 Match Referee  David Boon