The Proteas won the toss this morning and the captain Dean Elgar surprised everyone by electing to have a bat first.

Erwee, who made his debut last week, was the man of the hour with a maiden Test century and he helped steer the Proteas to 238/3 at stumps on day one.

The underfire, Aiden Markram, contributed with 42 while Elgar scored 41 runs.

Erwee said that his knock of 108-runs was very special, considering that two years ago he would have never thought that he would one day play for South Africa.

“It is a very special day. I must say that 24 months ago I probably didn't think I would be close to being in a position where I would be in a South African Test squad.

“To sit here with a Test hundred is extremely special. I think it's more special having gone through all the hard yards over the years. Taking learnings over those years and implementing them with the squad.

“The team does come first and I am very happy that we could turn things around after the first Test.”

SJ added that they had to land a punch early in the Test as they had their backs against the wall following last week’s disappointing performance in their 1st Test.

“A lot has been said in the last week in terms of our preparation and the first Test.

With our backs against the wall had to show up and deliver a punch.

“It's all down to basics and if you stick to that, you are going to get it right more often than not.

“To come out the way we did today and the way the guys batted it was obviously uplifting going forward for the next four days.”

The play resumes at midnight with Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen at the crease on 22 and 13 runs respectively.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport