South Africa 187/5 at tea
Quinton de Kock 64 not out
Dwaine Pretorius 25 not out
Quinton de Kock saved South Africa’s blushes after lunch after it looked like the hosts faced a severe batting collapse.
He raced to his 18th half-century in just under an hour of batting with Dwaine Pretorius providing much-needed assistance.
South Africa went into the lunch break on 79 for three with captain Faf du Plessis and debutante Rassie van der Dussen at the wheel.
The duo did well to provide some stability to the innings after opener Dean Elgar fell victim to Jimmy Anderson off the first ball and Aiden Markram went out cheaply nearly 10 overs later.
Du Plessis and Van der Dussen seemed to step up a gear after lunch adding 18 runs to the scoreboard before the debutante edged to Joe Root at first slip with six runs to his name.
The Proteas captain followed Van der Dussen three overs later with Stuart Broad inducing the edge with Root once again taking the catch with South Africa on 111 for five.
Pretorius joined De Kock in the middle for the most useful partnership of the innings. The duo added 76 runs between them to give the Proteas a slight edge in the second session.
@ockertde
IOL Sport
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