New Zealand 73 for 4 (Nicholls 24*) v South Africa
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kane Williamson was lbw to Kagiso Rabada © AFP
South Africa made sizeable early inroads into an inexperienced New Zealand top order on the opening morning at the Basin Reserve. Morne Morkel struck first and Kagiso Rabada had two to his name before conceding a run, including lynchpin Kane Williamson, then on the brink of lunch Keshav Maharaj removed Jeet Raval in his first over.
At the toss, again won by South Africa, Faf du Plessis said he thought the ball could swing in slightly warmer temperatures than of late and he was proved right as all three of his quicks found movement. He was also keen to have an early dart at a vulnerable-looking New Zealand line-up, without the services of Ross Taylor, and his move was justified when they had three wickets before the hour-mark.
Raval and Henry Nicholls then restored some order with a stand of 52 which took New Zealand to the brink of a slightly better tasting lunch, but Raval suddenly became jittery facing Maharaj’s first over of the day and prodded an edge to slip to leave another revival needed after the break.
Morkel, who did not concede a run until his 15th delivery having been elevated to opening the bowling, could have had a wicket in his third over but South Africa did not opt for the DRS for an lbw appeal against Tom Latham which came back as three reds on the replay. However, that did not bring an upturn in fortunes for Latham who soon edged a delivery that nipped away to third slip.
Rabada was first change this time having taken the new ball in Dunedin but wasted little time in making an impact – a seismic blow to New Zealand’s hopes – swinging a full delivery sharply back at Williamson to trap the New Zealand captain lbw. A technological malfunction followed after Williamson called for the DRS with no ball-tracking available; the on-field decision was upheld (it looked as though it would have been in any event) and New Zealand were not docked a review, but that was small compensation for losing their captain.
Having plied his trade on the domestic scene for 15 years, Neil Broom began his Test career with a duck – but he won’t have fallen to many better catches in that time than the snaffle by Quinton de Kock. Rabada, this time nipping the ball away, found Broom’s outside edge and de Kock dived full-length in front of first slip – the ball would not have reached Hashim Amla.
At 21 for 3, New Zealand could have had a horror morning, the type that loses a Test match before thoughts have barely turned towards the weekend. As he had in Dunedin, Raval showed good judgement outside off, waiting to pick off anything on the pads or overpitched.
Late in the session, du Plessis turned to spin. Firstly it was from JP Duminy, a brief experiment for the offspinner to target two left handers, before turning to his specialist in Maharaj. He drew an edge first ball which just eluded Amla at slip, brought a nervous jab at another delivery before, tossing one a little wider, Raval pushed away from his body.
As expected, New Zealand had opted to strengthen their seam-bowling resources but also keep as deep a batting order as possible with Mitchell Santner left out for Colin de Grandhomme. The signs were they would need all the batting they could muster.
New Zealand 1 Tom Latham, 2 Jeet Raval, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Neil Broom, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 James Neesham, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Colin de Grandhomme, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Jeetan Patel
South Africa 1 Stephen Cook, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Temba Bavuma, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Kagiso Rabada
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo