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[Gerry SA]

One off Test match started today.

Might not be the most important match South Africa will play in 2014, but it might be for Cape Town's Dane Piedt, whom made his Test debut. A very talent young spinner, a kid who can really turn the ball.

Anyway Brendan Taylor won the toss and elected to bat first. Pitch is crumbly and might well become a raging turner by days 3/4/5.

Taylor batted beautifully for 93, the lad is supremely gifted. Fell a little sorry for him as he plays in weak Zimbabwe side.

Dane Piedt enjoyed his debut. He nabbed a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket and so far has 4/90.

Dale Steyn was his usual self and bagged 4/45.

Piedt and Steyn will both be competing to bag a 5 wicket bag tomorrow.

Zimbabwe ended day 1 on 248/9 and they should be pretty happy.

Notable mention to Zimbabwe's Mark Vermeulen, playing his first Test in 10 years. The lad has had issues of the field that detailed his career, but great to see him back. 

[TangoWhiskey]

Decent figures on debut, but he's no Moeen Ali.

[Gerry SA]

The sensational Dale Steyn registers his 25th five wicket bag. 5/46.

Zimbabwe all out for 256. A solid effort.

Big day for Alviro Petersen, another failure will probably end his Test career.

[ProCricketer1982]

The sensational Dale Steyn registers his 25th five wicket bag. 5/46.

Zimbabwe all out for 256. A solid effort.

Big day for Alviro Petersen, another failure will probably end his Test career.

Anderson would have got the 5for only 40 runs #worldclass

[joeljonno]

The sensational Dale Steyn registers his 25th five wicket bag. 5/46.

Whinge whinge, Steyn picking up cheap wickets against a load of minnows again. :-)

[Gerry SA]

Steyn 380 wickets @ 22.64

There must be a fair few minnows around...

Shame Clubman can't match Steyn's numbers...

[Giraffe208]

Hope there wasn't any ball tampering again....

That said, you can only take the wickets of players put in front of you and Steyn keeps doing that. At no point does anyone question the quality of Steyn......on the contrary people almost blow his proverbial half as much as you Gerry.

Shame the lad on debut didn't take 5 with the dropped catch yesterday. By all accounts umpiring has been pretty shocking too!

[ProCricketer1982]

Steyn 380 wickets @ 22.64

There must be a fair few minnows around...

Shame Clubman can't match Steyn's numbers...

Stats aren't everything, only half a story.s Steyn is pure class though, top draw

[no1red]

Its Steyn's strike rate thats so impressive to me- wicket every 41 balls. Quite a bit better than most.

[WalkingWicket37]

Its Steyn's strike rate thats so impressive to me- wicket every 41 balls. Quite a bit better than most.

Moeen is not far behind with a wicket every 46 deliveries, and his average is below 29.
Considering he's a spinner they're impressive stats #WorldClass

[Gerry SA]

Day 2 was a rather turgid affair. Proteas had closed 206/4.

After day 3 Proteas are pretty much in the box seat.

Faf(98) and de Kock(81) took the game away from Zimbabwe, whom have been very disciplined with ball.

Duminy chipped in with 55.

Proteas ended up 397 all out, a lead of 141.

Zimbabwe's debutant spinner John Nyumbu took 5/157 and bowled really nicely.

Morkel removed Masakadza early on and Zimbabwe ended day 3 28/1.

If Zimbabwe can get a lead of 150/180 it could be a tricky run chase.

[Nmcgee]

A link to http://www.espncricinfo.com would probably suffice. Not sure why we need a blow-by-blow daily update.

[Gerry SA]

A link to http://www.espncricinfo.com would probably suffice. Not sure why we need a blow-by-blow daily update.

Feel free not to read my topic then...

[Gerry SA]

Day 4 and the end of the Test match.

Unfortunately South Africa's first innings lead was too big for Zimbabwe to cancel out and then build the 150-200 run lead needed to potentially win this match.

Dane Piedt ended up with 4 wickets in each innings. A very good debut for the young man from Cape Town. Modest opposition but he showed good control and sharp spin. Bodes well for the future.

Dale Steyn also ended up with 8 poles in the match, and it now looks certain he will take his 400th Test wicket against West Indies later this year.

Plenty of positives of Zimbabwe ahead of the triangular ODI series with SA and AUS.

Looking forward to see the return of Marchant de Lange. The lad's the fastest bowler in SA 

[400notout]

Anywhere to get highlights of this test? Day by day or a roundup would be great, really want to see Piedt bowl!