Piedt pleased to make big statement
Spinner Dane Piedt cherished a very successful performance on debut, as South Africa reduced Zimbabwe to 248 for nine on day one of the one-off Test at the Harare Sports Club.
Spinner Dane Piedt cherished a very successful performance on debut, as South Africa reduced Zimbabwe to 248 for nine on day one of the one-off Test at the Harare Sports Club.
Piedt's first delivery in the longest format of the international game brought a dismissal. Only 18 others have achieved this feat. He end Saturday with telling figures of four for 90.
Pace ace Dale Steyn, meanwhile, surpassed the late Malcolm Marshall's tally of 376 wickets to move into the top 15 of Test cricket's most prolific bowlers. Steyn found plenty of reverse swing on a relatively dry pitch.
"I wasn't expecting it to spin so much, but I did put a lot on it," enthused Piedt. "I've spoken to spin bowling coach Claude Henderson over the years and we say that you should try to make a statement with your first delivery. I think I did that.
"I saw the pitch and I fancied it. I tried to make a statement with my first delivery. I didn't contain like I wanted to and like I should. There was a period straight after lunch where I got a bit greedy.
"I only bowled one carom ball at the back end because I tried to keep it nice and simple. I wanted to settle into the rhythm of bowling plenty of overs from one side."
The Proteas were challenged by host skipper Brendan Taylor, whose commanding 93 featured eight fours. The right-hander holed out to fielder JP Duminy on the midwicket fence to give the 24-year-old Piedt a fourth wicket.
Tail-enders Donald Tiripano and John Nyumbu will resume on nine not out and zero not out respectively come Sunday, when a tight race between Steyn and Piedt for an unprecedented five-wicket haul will continue.
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