This despite losing wickets at regular intervals to finish the day on 267/7.
The South Africans suffered a huge blow when former King Edward VII batsman, Quinton de Kock, was ruled out of the match after he sustained an ankle injury while walking his dogs on the eve of the Test.
The selectors were forced to call on another KES man, Dane Vilas, who was in Port Elizabeth at the time, to replace the injured De Kock.
Newly appointed captain AB de Villiers won the toss and elected to bat first, despite conditions favouring the bowlers on an overcast morning at the Wanderers.
The Proteas selected an all-seam attack, giving a debut to bizhub Highveld Lions speedster, Hardus Viljoen, who has been in a rich vein of form for his franchise.
Stiaan van Zyl’s woes continued at the top of the order as he was once again dismissed cheaply for 21. Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar steadied the ship and the Proteas went to lunch on 71/1.
England came out guns blazing after lunch and Amla was the first to go after he received a scintillating delivery from Steven Finn which nipped back and straightened to have Amla caught behind for 40.
At the post-match conference, Elgar said, “All in all I think it was a good day for us. There was a hard session up front. I would say we are looking towards 300 runs.”
The South African opener admitted that it was a good contest between bat and ball as all the Proteas batsmen got starts but never kicked on from there.
“It almost felt like every ball you faced, you never really felt in. It’s one of those challenges as a batsman. It’s a no-brainer for us. We have to win this game to allow ourselves to go to Centurion with the hope of winning [the series],” he said.
Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada finished the day with an unbroken partnership of 42, the third highest of the innings, and South Africa will be counting on the pair to post a decent total on the board.
