Johannesburg . — South Africa’s batsmen failed to build on a succession of decent starts as they reached 267-7 at stumps on the first day of the third test against England at Bidvest Wanderers in Johannesburg yesterday.

Nine batsmen all reached double figures but no-one was able to bat through to a big score with opener Dean Elgar top scoring with 46.

The pace duo of Ben Stokes (2-53) and Steven Finn (2-50) both picked up two wickets apiece as South Africa’s innings drifted away as they slipped from 117-1 to 225-7.

South Africa were thrown into disarray before the start of play when Quinton De Kock was ruled out after injuring his knee the night before.

Dane Vilas was called up and was flown in from Port Elizabeth but he only arrived after the start of play.

The Proteas also handed a debut to bizhub Highveld Lions paceman Hardus Viljoen as the hosts won the toss and elected to bat under an overcast sky and a well-grassed pitch that had a tinge of green.

Despite the overcast conditions there was very little swing on offer and only a touch of seam movement for the fast bowlers.

England’s bowlers did not help their cause by generally bowling too short and not making the batsmen play enough during the morning session.

Elgar, who survived a few testing moments against Finn, and Stiaan van Zyl put on 44 runs for the first wicket before Van Zyl was dismissed by seamer Ben Stokes (1-30).

It was a rather soft dismissal from Van Zyl, who had looked good in scoring 21 off 47 balls, as he was too early on an attempted pull shot to a long-hop with the resulting top edge giving Bairstow plenty of time to run around from behind the stumps to claim a simple catch.

Hashim Amla and Elgar then combined for a 73-run second-wicket stand

Opening batsman Elgar battled well to reach 46 off 122 balls while Amla was more aggressive as he scored 40 off 90 deliveries with seven fours.

But the introduction of offspinner Moeen Ali into the attack changed England’s fortunes as he produced a delivery that turned and bounced before finding the outside edge of Elgar’s bat with keeper Jonny Bairstow taking a regulation catch.

Finn was the next man to strike when he produced a superb delivery that straightened off the pitch to collect the outside edge of Amla’s bat with Bairstow taking the catch low to his right.

AB de Villiers looked in fine touch in scoring 36 off 40 balls but he was undone by a Stokes’ bouncer with De Villiers gloving the ball through to Bairstow. — AFP.

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