South Africa vs Australia 2018: 3rd Test, day 1, 5 things we learnt from the day

#3 Dean Elgar wages a lone war

Elgar smashed an eleventh Test hundred

A composed, fluent Dean Elgar grit it out on day 1 at Cape Town to smash a fabulous ton, his 11th in Test cricket, even as wickets tumbled around him against the old ball. Pat Cummins took over the responsibility of reversing the ball and suddenly found things working in his favour.

Elgar, however, was batting on a different surface and barely gifted any chance except when Nathan Lyon dropped a sitter at point. The left-handed opener had struggled against Lyon in the first two Tests but appeared in far better touch on day 1, confidently taking on the spinner and flourishing in the company of AB de Villiers.