Johannesburg - Khaya Zondo got the workout he would have wanted as he pressed his claims for a starting spot in the Proteas Test side, with a gritty 86 not out on the opening day of South Africa’s tour match against the England Lions in Canterbury on Tuesday.
Zondo helped pull the Proteas out of a tricky situation at 129/5, sharing a 143-run sixth wicket partnership with Rassie van der Dussen. “There’s a lot of competition for spots,” said Zondo. “It was nice to get some runs and hopefully it shows that I can play.”
Zondo, Van der Dussen, Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton are all pushing for starting positions in the middle order as the selectors look to fill the gap left by the absence of Temba Bavuma. Van der Dussen’s 75, which follows a century made in the One-Day Internationals series earlier on the tour, is likely to see him regain the no.4 spot, which he vacated for the Bangladesh series when he chose to go to the Indian Premier League.
In that series Rickelton impressed Proteas captain Dean Elgar, and following on from that the Central Gauteng Lions left-hander has shown consistency and confidence in a stint for English County, Northamptonshire, where he has scored over 500 runs in eight innings.
Elgar felt that should be good enough for Rickelton to retain his spot for the Lord’s Test that starts next Wednesday.
Zondo’s effort came against top quality bowling from Craig Overton and Ollie Robinson, who are also competing for spots in the England Test side. Robinson claimed the wickets of Sarel Erwee (42) and Van der Dussen, while Overton picked up 4/48.
“They definitely tested us,” said Zondo. “The English selectors have some hard thinking to do, they both bowled well. They were always testing our techniques, they were always in a good area and they were on the money. I was out there, it was tough and I was just thinking, ‘sjoe, now this is big boy cricket.’”
Markram, who also chose the IPL over the Bangladesh Test series in April, made 10, while Rickelton was dismissed first ball by Overton. The match resumes on Wednesday.
IOL Sport