The first ever 4-day Test inaugurated yesterday as South Africa took on Zimbabwe at Port Elizabeth. The visitors were hopeful that the shortened version of the longest format might allow them to spring a surprise by slaying the giants at their home itself.

And after dispatching 9 South African batsmen by the time their  score reached 309, the Graeme Cremer-led side might as well have considered their chances. However, Morne Morkel drained all those hopes and dreams down the gutter as the pacer was almost unplayable under the lights. 

Indeed, such was his pace—and the ordeal of spotting the pink ball under lights—that the Zimbabwean batsmen couldn’t fathom what was happening. By the time they day ended, Zimbabwe were 30 for 4 and really, really knackered by the big South African.

The day began with the Proteas batting. After winning the toss and batting first, South Africa, led by AB de Villiers, started really well with openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram putting up a total of 72 before the former perished.

The latter, however, scored a century and got out on 125 after facing 204 balls. He was well supported by the captain with a brisk innings of 53 from 65 and Temba Bavuma’s 44 from 72. The South Africans had a clear mindset: to smack the ball while the sun assists them with its rays and then let Zimbabwe take the pitch when the floodlights come on

And it worked perfectly. Even though South Africa kept losing wickets, they seemed confident about their ways and stuck to the game plan—much credit to the captain de Villiers—and executed it accordingly.

For the Zimbabweans, Kyle Jarvis and Chris Mpofu got 3 wickets each while captain Graeme Cremer got two scalps himself.

When they came on to bat, the target to achieve a lead was 310—something that might not have seemed extremely hard for the Zimbabweans. However, little did they know that Morne Morkel would make their life a living hell.

Bowling at over 140 kilometers-per-hour, Morkel used his height to generate unplayable short-ball lengths. The Zimbabweans batsmen seemed more concerned about saving their ribs rather than scoring runs.

And they lost 4 wickets by the time the umpire called stumps—3 of which were taken by Morkel.