Centurion : Stephen Cook made the perfect transition to the list of successful 30-something debutants, becoming the sixth South African to score a century on debut, on the opening day of the fourth Sunfoil Test match at SuperSport Park on Friday.
The 33-year-old Cook and the 32-year-old Hashim Amla both scored centuries – in the case of Amla his 25th – and shared a partnership of 202 for the second wicket in 53.1 overs after AB de Villiers had won the toss.
It was by far the most decisive team batting performance of the Castle Lager Proteas in the series with 107 runs being scored in the first session for the loss of Dean Elgar to a freak short leg catch by James Taylor and 117 in the second without loss. England fought back with four wickets in the final session but Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock then batted comfortably through to the close with an unbroken partnership of 56 to enable the Proteas to finish proceedings with a very comfortable 329/5.
This included an important period against the second new ball.
Amla’s innings of 106 (169 balls, 19 fours) was his 25th for South Africa and his sixth against England and equalled the record of Jacques Kallis in scoring five Test centuries at this particular venue. Both he and Cook benefited from chances that should have gone to hand but could not detract from two fine innings.
Inevitably the day belonged to Cook for all the brilliance of Amla. He joined a distinguished club of Andrew Hudson, Jacques Rudolph, Alviro Petersen, Faf du Plessis and Stiaan van Zyl who have scored centuries on Test match debut for the Proteas. He is also the 100th player in the history of Test cricket to make a century on debut.
He also bears comparison with a number of players who debuted in their 30s and went on to have successful Test careers. These include the Australian trio of Mike Hussey and Chris Rogers who were both comfortably past their 30th birthdays and Adam Voges who was 35.
Petersen was also well on his way to his 30th birthday when he made his debut.
Cook has shown over the past two domestic seasons that his game is very much in its prime and there is no reason why he should not have a successful career in the five-day format in the next five years.
Like Amla, he eventually fell to an inside edge on to the stumps (115 off 218 balls, 14 fours) which suggests that there may be a bit more in the surface than at first appeared evident.
England clearly missed the injured Stephen Finn who has been the pick of their attack for most of the series and generally their intensity was slightly down on where it had been in their two victories.
The Proteas came into the match with five changes compared to the Wanderers line-up with Dane Piedt returning to add balance to the attack, Kyle Abbott being preferred to Chris Morris and JP Duminy getting the nod ahead of Du Plessis.