Batters dream of days like this. A flat deck. Mild temperatures. Shards of sunlight on a fast outfield. An opposition captain that seems to have misread conditions and handed over the initiative. For Marques Ackerman, the dream was one shot away from coming completely true.
With a century in his sights, Ackerman jumped out his crease to go for glory against Nathan Lyon, who fired it in flat down leg. Ackerman missed and by the time he tried to get back, Alex Carey had broken his stumps. He was rudely woken up. Ackerman was reluctant to raise his bat as he made his way back to the dressing room, but did at the last moment. Six hours later, he could say that he "left a Test hundred out there," but it did not seem catastrophic.
"You live by the sword and you die by the sword. I've learned that throughout my career," he said. "But yes, I left a hundred out there. I'm not really happy with that. But that's just good motivation for hopefully trying to get my first one."
Ackerman's acknowledgement of the way he plays speaks to exactly why South Africa have picked him: he has the kind of aggressive mindset that they want. Having never opened in first-class cricket before last week's Gqeberha Test, Ackerman is being turned into an opener primarily because of his ability to take the game on.
By the fifth over, he'd glanced one fine and whipped another through midwicket but it was after drinks that he came into his own. He cut Josh Hazlewood over the cordon and then steered him along the ground in the same area for two boundaries in three balls. In the next over, he swiped hard to hit Lyon for six and then out came the flair.
There were reverse-sweeps before he got to fifty and the most audacious hook to send Cummins for six shortly after. A quartet of fours off Mitchell Starc took Ackerman into the 80s and they came like this: short and wide, cut; full and straight, whipped through midwicket; short and less wide, cut again; not quite as short but wider, cut for the final time.
Had Ackerman made any changes to be able to play what essentially looked like a white-ball innings in just his second Test? "Playing SA20 has given us a lot of different roles. You've got to be quite flexible and make it work," he said.
"When you've played it for a long time, you can. It's also not the first time I've faced a new ball. Practising against our fast bowlers in the nets, I know I can manage that and form a gameplan and that it would give me good perspective as to what I wanted to achieve facing the Australian guys."
Ackerman has batted everywhere from opening to No. 7 in T20s, but has only played 12 SA20 games. Crucially, in the last edition of the tournament, he opened twice for Durban's Super Giants and once with Aiden Markram, whom Ackerman credited with helping him make the transition to Test level.
"He's been exceptional for me. He has put an arm around the shoulder, given me good advice as to what's going to work, what to expect and which options to back," Ackerman said. "It's nice to have a calm head with you and I've batted with him before so it's quite a familiar relationship that we do have. Having a guy like him with all the experience has been key for me."
That could be important going forward because South Africa are still searching for a regular opening partner for Markram. Their preferred choice, Tony de Zorzi picked up a hamstring injury in the third ODI against Australia and could not be considered for this series but he has yet to take complete ownership of the role.
De Zorzi's opening partnership with Markram in 13 innings averages 35.54, only marginally more than Ryan Rickelton at 33.62 in the same number of trips to the crease. Both are slightly better than Markarm and Dean Elgar, where the sample size is much larger; they batted together 60 times and averaged 32.95 which suggests the numbers for South Africa in the modern era are generally around the mid-30s, as opening is as tough as it gets. Ackerman made it look a little easier.
South Africa were scoring above five an over at lunch, had posted their first century opening stand since Shukri Conrad took over as head coach in February 2023, and both batters had gone past fifty. They could not have asked for a better platform against an opposition that seemed to have their minds elsewhere - perhaps still with Steven Smith, who had to withdraw with a neck problem - and had every opportunity to make it count. That they didn't is not on Ackerman.
When the first wicket fell, he was in the 90s and obviously and understandably nervous. He tried to hook Cummins over fine leg but gloved it instead, just wide of Carey. Then came the rush of blood to the head as he thought he could reach his century with an almighty swing. Could five sedately taken singles have done the job just as well? Probably, but when you're in your second Test and a milestone is touching distance away, you're likely to go for it - and what a story you'd have to tell if it comes off.
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The shot selection of the rest of the batters can and will be questioned. Markram and David Bedingham, who both got half-centuries, will have the harshest light shone on their ill-judged decisions to take on the short ball. Temba Bavuma's third dismissal to an offspinner in four innings and Matthew Breetzke's readiness for Test cricket will also be things for South Africa to consider, but it was Ackerman who was there to talk about it.
Asked about the collapse, he did his best to explain. "There were maybe a few soft dismissals and we just lacked a big partnership after myself and Aiden got out," he said. "We just needed someone to stick around with Bedingham for maybe a session or so but we just lost wickets in clusters, which obviously put us on the back foot."
Still, South Africa scored at close to four runs an over and finished on a score they can live with, despite everything they know about how much it could have been. The best batting days at Newlands are two and three. South Africa have now given Australia dibs on those and they know it.
"Before today's play if you gave us I think 329 we probably would have taken it," Ackerman said. "In saying that, I think all of us would agree that we probably left a little bit out there today."