Right then, South Africa are in a commanding position at the end of the opening day, and when they return, they will look to stretch the total even further. As for Zimbabwe, their immediate focus will be on wrapping up the final wicket quickly before getting on with the bat. When they do come out to bat, they will be mindful of how challenging the initial phase was, particularly during the morning session. However, as the day progressed and the ball softened, conditions became favourable for batting. That said, South Africa have a four-pronged pace attack, while Zimbabwe went in with just two seamers and could not quite exploit the conditions. The first ball on Day 2 will be bowled at 8 am GMT, and we will be here nice and early for the build-up. Until then, take care and goodbye!

South Africa's Lhuan-dre Pretorius is up for a quick chat with the broadcasters. On being asked about his debut, he mentions that he is fortunate to get it quickly. Shares that he got a call for his debut a week ago, and after that, he hit a few net sessions to come into this game. He then admits to feeling a bit nervous when he walked in at 22/3 but describes his innings as truly special. He says it still hasn’t sunk in and shares that they deliberately took on the spinners as Zimbabwe bowled them in tandem. He emphasizes his focus on spending as much time at the crease as possible and calls it a dream come true, especially with his parents watching from the stands.

Even after removing Pretorius, the hosts struggled to clean up the tail. A dropped catch when Corbin Bosch was on 2 proved costly, and with the second new ball in hand, there was still hope they could finish things off but it wasn’t to be. Bosch marshalled the tail brilliantly, piling on the misery for Zimbabwe and reaching his maiden Test century in the final over of the day.

Pretorius joined forces with fellow debutant Dewald Brevis to shift the momentum with a counter-attacking 95-run partnership, as the duo punished anything loose. There was a minor stutter with the loss of a couple of quick wickets, but Pretorius remained composed and stitched together another valuable stand with Corbin Bosch. Pretorius went on to become the youngest South African to score a century in Test cricket. However, he had his share of luck along the way, surviving a caught-behind appeal and an LBW decision, both of which went in his favour. With no DRS in place for this series, Zimbabwe were left wondering what could have been.

Zimbabwe lost the toss but dominated the early exchanges with the ball. Blessing Muzarabani set the tone with a probing opening spell, but it was his fellow seamer, Tanaka Chivanga, who made the breakthroughs. Exploiting the steep bounce and seam movement on offer, Tanaka ripped through the top order to leave the visitors reeling at 23/3 in the first session. The tourists slipped further to 55/4 after a run-out, before Lhuan-dre Pretorius stepped up to lead the fightback.

SESSION SUMMARY - 170 runs, 31 overs and 3 wickets. South Africa take the opening day honours! While the first session belonged to Zimbabwe, the tourists completely dominated the afternoon and evening sessions. As a result, it’s Keshav Maharaj and his men who will head back as the happier of the two sides. The latter part of the day could hardly have gone worse for the hosts, and they will be disappointed with how the advantage slipped away.