Brisbane Test: Amla, Kallis make Aussies toil on Day 1

By Nadene Smith

BRISBANE, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) November 9, 2012: South African batsmen stole the show on opening day of the Brisbane Test against Australia as the Proteas reached 255 for two at stumps at Gabba.

A total of 82 overs could be bowled on the opening day of the Aussie summer as bad light forced the umpires to close the day eight overs prior and offered batsmen the light before Aussie skipper Michael Clarke decided to take the new ball to have a crack at the South African batsmen just before the stumps.

Star of the day was Hashim Amla who scored 90 not out from 207 balls hitting six boundaries and a huge six over mid-on.

Jacques Kallis, who is probably the best-ever all-rounder in Test cricket, also played a marvelous unbeaten knock of 84 runs from 135 balls hitting eight boundaries and a six.

Earlier, opening batsman Alviro Petersen also hit a half century before getting out for 64 from 127 balls with the help of seven boundaries.

South African skipper Graeme Smith won the toss and decided to bat first on a batters-friendly track at Gabba.

Graeme Smith (10 from 27) stayed at the middle with Alviro Petersen for the first 10 overs before he was trapped right in front of the stumps by fast bowler James Pattinson.

When the skipper left the field, the total was at 29 runs and Australia had already lost a UDRS referral.

Hashim Amla joined Alviro Petersen and together they built impressive partnership of 90 runs and only when they started to up the momentum Alviro miscued one straight into the palms of Mike Hussey who has always been as safe as the house in fielding.

Hashim Amla never got perturbed by the dismissal and put his head down with experienced Jacques Kallis joining him in the middle at Gabba.

Soon Hashim Amla reached his half century and then his 5,000 Test runs and he started to flourish and scoring rate continued to go up with Aussie bowlers finding literally no help from the wicket.

Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis both got lives when Amla was dropped while Kallis was caught off a no-ball which pretty much summed up the day for the Aussies in the field on day 1.

The pitch is likely to go better on second and third day before cracks start appearing on it on the final two days of the match and with South Africans scoring in excess of 250 runs on first day it looks like a huge first innings total for the tourists and it is all in the making of an intriguing start to the Australian summer.