Centurion (South Africa), Dec 26 (AP) Fast bowler Corbin Bosch made a dream test debut with a wicket on his first ball to provide South Africa a perfect start in the Boxing Day test against Pakistan on Thursday.

Bosch lured Pakistan captain Shan Masood (17) to play a lose drive and had him caught in the slips as Pakistan reached 88-4 at lunch on a seamer friendly SuperSport Park pitch, losing four wickets for 20 runs.

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Bosch became the fifth South African bowler after Bert Vogler, Dane Piedt, Hardu Viljoen and Tshepo Moreki to claim a wicket with his first ball in test cricket.

Kamran Ghulam was unbeaten on 23, including a top-edged six over the wicketkeeper's head against Bosch, and Mohammad Rizwan was not out on 10 at the break.

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Masood and opening partner Saim Ayub (14) had thwarted the pace threat of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen in the first hour after captain Temba Bavuma won the toss under overcast conditions and elected to field.

But Bosch's breakthrough saw Pakistan's top-order crumble against the pace with Dane Paterson finding edges of Ayub and Babar Azam (4).

Babar, who was dropped for the last two test matches at home against England, has long been struggling in red-ball cricket. His struggles continued as he hit Bosch for a boundary of the first ball he faced before playing loosely to Paterson and getting caught in the slips after just 11 balls.

Left-hander Saud Shakeel (14) struck three fours against Paterson before Bosch had him caught down the leg-side off a sharp short pitch ball after South Africa successfully went for a television review.

Both teams packed their playing XIs with four fast bowlers each and didn't include a specialist spinner at a venue where pace has dominated over the last six years.

South Africa, which leads the World Test Championship points table, needs a win in one of the two test matches against Pakistan to guarantee a place in next June's final at Lord's.

Seventh-place Pakistan included fast bowlers Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas and Aamer Jamal in its team.

Abbas made a comeback to test cricket after more than three years while Naseem returned after missing out the last two home tests against England in October.

Injury-prone Shahzad also missed out three home test matches against England, but got the nod ahead of left-arm pace bowler Mir Hamza. (AP)

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