Proteas bowler Bosch calculates way to success in Test debut against Pakistan

No 37 on day 1 of the first Test with his first ball claiming the first wicket, putting a smile on his face, also his mum in the stands and, of course, the rest of his teammates. 

Corbin Bosch had the No 37 forced on him.

At provincial level he wears 14, his late father Tertius’ birthday.

But that shirt belongs to someone else in the Proteas team.

He wanted to use the No 73, the year his mother was born, but that number is not available either. 

So he flipped the digits around and ended up with a number equally as important to him.

“Funny enough it is my brother and mine’s birthdays combined. I only realised it on Sunday [when he made his ODI debut],” said Bosch. 

It’s a good thing he’s a dab hand with numbers. He wasn’t bad with ball in hand either on Thursday, though he admitted the delivery that got him his first Test wicket wasn’t the best. 

“I was happy that the ball bounced. The nerves weren’t as bad as Sunday, but they were there,” Bosch said. 

It deserved to be thrashed through the covers and Shan Masood tried to, but far from middling it, he edged the ball to Marco Jansen in the gully. 

It raised an intriguing question: Does taking a wicket with your first ball trump having Brian Lara as your maiden Test wicket, as was the case for Tertius? 

“When I go to heaven one day I think he’s going to tell me Brian’s a little bit better than getting a first-ball wicket,” Bosch chirped.

It was a special day for him, as it was for his home ground SuperSport Park. Much has been made about moving the Boxing Day Test away from the coast, but on the occasion of their sixth hosting of the match, SuperSport Park was sold out, with 16,000 people piling into the venue. 

They also consumed R1m worth of beer, ensuring the Christmas babalas was duly settled. 

In between they created an invigorating atmosphere, chanting for the magnificent Kagiso Rabada, giving Dane Paterson a standing ovation after he claimed a second consecutive five wicket haul and celebrating Bosch, one of their own, every time he took up his fielding position on the boundary. 

He helped give the Proteas control of this first Test, but even he acknowledged they are far from being in a dominant position. 

“If we had one less wicket we would be in commanding position,” said Bosch.

“If we can get a nice big first innings total, it's going to really put them under pressure.”

Aiden Markram (47*) and Temba Bavuma (4*) will resume on Friday, aiming to get past Pakistan’s 211, and to try and build that lead. 

While Bosch naturally deserved to be celebrated, Thursday was also another triumph for the indefatigable Paterson.

With numbers clearly a theme for Boxing Day, Paterson again took to reminding everyone that he may be 35 and he may only bowl 124km/h, but he can add value to this Proteas side, despite plenty of criticism of his position on social media platforms. 

“I’m 35, I bowl 124km/h. I’m not a fan favourite, but hopefully I’m getting some likes,” he said after taking 5/61.

The one number no-one could understand at the end of the first day was the zero in the wickets column for Rabada.

“I don’t think I’ve seen two better spells from an international bowler — now I see it first hand — and he went wicketless,” said Bosch.

“KG has been special. Even in that Sri Lanka series, there were a lot of plays and misses against his bowling. But he keeps coming, it's good to see. He doesn’t get down on himself.

It can be frustrating,” said Paterson.

Bosch doesn’t feel there’ll be a zero behind Rabada’s name in Pakistan’s second innings.

“Once he gets that first wicket he will run through them,” he said.