Bosch brings back Centurion's intensity

Sometimes even Test cricket is a game that could be played breezily in a backyard, nonchalantly on a beach, unnoticed on a ground in the middle of a busy city, or with due care on a quiet stretch of road. Anywhere where few watched and fewer cared.

Much of the second day in Centurion on Friday, which dawned sunnier but also muggier than Thursday, suggesting help for fast bowlers and batters alike, was one of those times. For more than a session the game seemed to slip towards some neverland where scoring runs and taking wickets was less important than going through the motions of trying to do so.

Pakistan bowled with neither urgency nor energy, as if all they had to do was keep the runs to reasonable levels. South Africa accepted the invitation graciously and without abusing the privilege.

At least, until after Lunch, when the drip of loose strokes that had cost Temba Bavuma and David Bedingham their wickets in the morning session thickened to a stream that also claimed those of Kyle Verreynne and Marco Jansen. All fell to wafts or prods that carried into the arc behind the wicket.

Bavuma's edged drive off Aamer Jamaal, which flew to Mohammad Rizwan, ended a stand of 70 shared with Bedingham. The dismissals of Bedingham, Verreynne and Jansen were bookended by 13 runs.

You couldn't cut the intensity with anything because there wasn't any intensity to cut.

Worse was to follow when Aiden Markram – who had batted judiciously from the start of the innings after Tea on Thursday, who had gone to 50 with a crisp cover drive off Naseem Shah with the fifth ball he faced on Friday, who had looked for all money like he would score his eighth century in his 79th innings – misjudged the bounce of a short, legside offering from Khurram Shahzad and edged it to Rizwan.

It was a limp end to an effort that endured for two minutes short of three hours and realised 89 runs. Or about half as many as it had seemed destined to be worth.

Also, getting out 11 runs short of a century will fuel criticism of Markram – who is frequently damned as not making the most of his considerable talent. And that despite him having scored 499 runs in Tests this year, as many as Tristan Stubbs. No South Africa player has been more successful in 2024. But Markram is not good at talking himself up. Happily Bavuma – who also cops unfair flak – did so at his press conference before the match.

"I resonate a lot with the experiences that he's going through," Bavuma said. "Putting myself in his shoes, sometimes you just need someone to talk to. Not necessarily someone to tell you what to do, but just to be empathetic to whatever it is that you're going through. And to give you the confidence and belief that you still belong within the environment and not allow you to be consumed about what's happening on the outside."

Back on the inside, what should have been a sizeable lead for South Africa was suddenly a measly two and they had only two more wickets in hand. A second-innings dogfight loomed, which is not what any team wants against easily sparked opponents like Pakistan.

But Corbin Bosch had taken guard five overs before Markram was dismissed, and had made his way to 18 off 17 when that happened. On Thursday Bosch became the 25th man and the fifth South Africa player to take a wicket with their first ball in Test cricket. He took 4/63.

Bosch scored no runs off the first four balls he faced after Markram went, all of them bowled by Naseem. The last of them beat Bosch so convincingly it excited the Pakistanis enough for Shan Masood to send Alex Wharf's decision of not out for caught behind upstairs – where replays revealed an embarrassingly large gap between bat and pad.

Bosch drove Naseem's next attempt, which was pitched full and outside off, through long-off for four with all the authority of an accomplished top order batter.

And with that he was off, hitting Shahzad for four past Rizwan in the next over, then cracking Naseem for consecutive boundaries through the covers, then pulling Khurram to the midwicket cushion.

Bosch and Kagiso Rabada had put on 41 off 42 – Rabada's contribution was 13 – when the latter's blooper off Jamaal was caught at the other end of the pitch. With the lead worth 43 and Bosch 46 not out, South Africa had only Dane Paterson to come.

One ball remained in that over. Paterson rose to his toes to pat it safely away. Then Mohammad Abbas steamed in to Bosch, who nudged to mid-on and declined the single. Bosch hammered Abbas' next effort through extra cover for four.

That took him to the second-fastest half-century, off 46 balls, by any No. 9 on debut in Test cricket history. He hit all but 10 of those runs in boundaries.

Bosch cracked Jamal and Abbas for three more fours from the next eight balls he faced, and Paterson launched Abbas over long-off for six. When Bosch reached 70 he had a new career-best first-class score. When he pulled Naseem through fine leg for four, he claimed the world record score for a No. 9 debutant.

Markram, who had toiled harder for his runs, would have been forgiven for rolling his eyes at all that. Instead he told a press conference about a player he shares the Titans' dressingroom with: "It looks pretty easy for him at the moment, this whole Test cricket thing. It was a hugely valuable knock, probably worth more than a hundred.

"He's always been a really talented guy. In the last few years he's put his head down, grafted and put in performances to get his chance. I'm really happy for him that he's grabbed his opportunity. There's still a lot left in his tank, and I'm glad the world can see what he's about. He's a free-spirited, confident guy and you want him to run with that."

Thanks to Bosch lightning was all around, none of it coming from the increasingly grey but docile skies above.

Also, not before time, there was intensity. And Pakistan had nothing with which to cut it.

Masood's ideas seemed to start and end with bowling Naseem into the ground. He sent down 10 overs on the bounce, took a break of five overs, and returned to bowl four more. Lunch was in there somewhere, but that was too much to ask of one bowler and Naseem looked spent afterwards.

"Test cricket is all about being tested; physically, mentally," Naseem told a press conference. "As a fast bowler, you have to bowl whenever a team needs you and you have to be ready for that."

Saim Ayub bowled the only spin seen in the match so far, and Paterson hoisted his 16th delivery to mid-off, where Shahzad held a swirling catch to end the innings.

Bosch's unbeaten 81 was studded with 15 fours, which meant he made a smidgen less than three-quarters of his runs in boundaries. He helped gather 110 runs from the last three partnerships.

So important a role had Bosch played with the bat in earning South Africa's lead of 90 that he shared the new ball with Rabada. The experiment didn't bring a wicket, but Rabada and Jansen reduced the visitors to 88/3 – two runs behind – before bad light ended play.

Not for the first time, Babar Azam, who is 16 not out, will be expected to do more than other teams might expect. If he does, it wouldn't be the first time.