Quinton de Kock continued his rich run of form by smashing 122 in a day-night practice match in Adelaide on Saturday.
There were some useful knocks, too, by Dean Elgar (43), Hashim Amla, who retired after reaching his fifty, and JP Duminy, who came through the twilight session to run up 97 against a Cricket Australia XI. The Proteas ran up 415, with the last wicket falling in the 90 over.
De Kock seemed to treat this as a day-night one-dayer, blasting 16 fours and three sixes among his 103 balls in a match designed to acquaint the players with the pink ball that will be used in the third Test in Adelaide on Nov 24. He retired with 20 overs to go, allowing Vernon Philander (34) and others to test the waters.
Stephen Cook (5) and Rilee Rossouw (8) missed out during the daylight hours as South Africa struggled to 29-2, but Elgar and Amla put on 92 for the third wicket at almost five an over as they warmed to the task.
Duminy pinpointed the changing light in the evening as being an important focus for the players, but he was untroubled as he ran up 10 fours in his innings. He and De Kock put on 167 for the seventh wicket at more than six an over.
‘We have had one twilight session, which is very different,’ Duminy said. ‘It’s definitely something that we still need to get used to.
‘With conditions changing when the sunlight goes down its about adapting to that and understanding how we want to play when we face those conditions. It’s all about a feel out of how we are going to go about it.’
Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
