Lunch New Zealand 397 for 6 (Williamson 176, Santner 41, Morkel 3-90) lead South Africa 314 by 83 runs
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Mitchell Santner was quite sedate on the fourth morning – and fell off what became the last ball before lunch © Getty Images
Play started promptly and under blue skies in Hamilton on the fourth day. More serene than the setting itself was New Zealand’s rate of scoring. They were content with 76 runs in 34.2 overs, pushing the lead to 83, working perhaps to the plan that keeping wickets in hand so they could accelerate after lunch. Half an hour to the break though, their key man, Kane Williamson, after making 176, was bounced out by Morne Morkel. Off the last ball of the session, they lost Mitchell Santner as well for 41 off 149 balls.
South Africa would be pleased with their morning’s work. Although their bowlers had been on the field for over 100 overs, they were still able to keep tight lines and lengths. Santner’s presence at the crease – and his propensity to be unsettled by short balls – also helped as he took his time to work through his troubles.
There were only seven boundaries in the session – only three in the first hour of play when New Zealand nudged their overnight score by 32 runs in 17 overs. With Williamson around, however, South Africa still felt nervous. They then grew frustrated, enough to review an lbw appeal from Kagiso Rabada against Santner when the ball had impacted pad well outside leg stump.
With New Zealand happy to wait to make their play, Faf du Plessis had the time to regather himself and his team. He received a boost in the 27th over of the day when his best bowler Morkel was able to draw a false shot from Williamson. The bouncer, on and around off stump, was met with a hook shot and it wasn’t timed quite so properly. Vernon Philander, at long leg, raced in from the boundary, put in a dive, and came up with a very important catch.
The New Zealand captain had spent more than seven hours at the crease to push his team into the lead. Now it was up to his team-mates to push on. Santner won’t be party to the acceleration – and he looked terribly disappointed about it – after he was squared up by Rabada and the outside edge flew to gully.
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo