Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar negotiated a potentially tricky morning as South Africa reached 92 for no wicket at lunch on the first day of the first Test against Sri Lanka at St George’s Park.
Cook made 52 not out and Elgar was unbeaten on 39 after newly-appointed full-time South African captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and decided to bat on a well-grassed pitch.
The expectation was that there would be some life for the seam bowlers early on but neither batsman was seriously troubled on a slow surface which offered minimal sideways movement.
Sri Lanka picked three specialist seam bowlers and only one specialist spinner in veteran left-armer Rangana Herath but none of the three seamers looked threatening.
Cook and Elgar made a cautious start and it took them 18 overs to reach 50 but they picked up the scoring as the morning progressed.
Cook reached his half-century shortly before lunch off 102 balls with seven fours.
