Ken Borland

New Zealand staged an outstanding fightback in the post-tea session to reduce South Africa to 191 for seven at stumps on the first day of the first test at the University Oval in Dunedin on Wednesday.

49th over – WICKET – More good bowling by Doug Bracewell this time gets its reward. Dale Steyn (9) pushes at an away-swinger that also bounces more than expected, edging a catch to second slip. But Martin Guptill punches the chance, only for Ross Taylor at first slip to juggle the rebound before eventually hanging on to the chance!

47th over – Jacques Rudolph has a reprieve on 32 as Bracewell swings the ball back into the left-hander, the lbw appeal is turned down but replays show it was plumb. But the review is unsuccessful because the replay also shows Bracewell has bowled a no-ball!

45th over – Another crazy run by South Africa but this time they get the unjust reward of five runs. Steyn pushed Bracewell just in front of square on the off side and called for the run. Tim Southee’s throw was over the stumps as Rudolph dived desperately, and it beat the back-up fielder and ran to the boundary.

44th over – WICKET – South Africa have been dicing with death with their stupid running between the wickets all day and now they pay the price. Rudolph dabs Daniel Vettori to backward point, Bracewell moves quickly to his right and also gets his throw in quickly. Wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk then produces sharp glovework to gather the ball on the bounce and quickly break the stumps, catching Mark Boucher (4) short of the crease.

42nd over – WICKET – Four balls after the drinks break and Hashim Amla suffers a lapse in concentration. He tries to cut left-arm spinner Vettori, there is an extra bounce, and Amla edges the ball into wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk’s gloves, from where it loops to Taylor at slip. Amla played some great shots in his 62, with eight fours and a six, but would have wanted more! Mark Boucher comes in and is down the pitch to his second ball, flicking Vettori on the full through midwicket for four.

41st over – Amla very nearly gives Doug Bracewell a return catch, but the third umpire confirms the ball bounced just in front of the bowler’s fingers. Bracewell follows up with a poor delivery though, a long-hop outside off stump, and Amla leans back and it clatters through cover-point for four.

38th over – Trent Boult just misses the yorker and Rudolph clips the low full toss through midwicket for four. Amla then completes a 90-ball half-century as he emphatically drives a half-volley through the covers for his sixth four. Amla celebrates by repeating the stroke off the next delivery.

37th over – Amla edges Chris Martin wide of third slip for four, which encourages the pace bowler to pitch the next ball up. Amla strides forward and punches the ball impressively through the covers for four.

36th over – Boult replaces the disappointing Tim Southee, but bowls too short outside off stump and Rudolph is quickly on to the cut, with great power, and the pull shot to pick up two boundaries in the over.

34th over – Southee is releasing the pressure at the other end: A full ball outside off stump with some width is lashed through cover-point for four by Amla. Southee ends the over by also offering Rudolph width, and is slapped away for four more runs.

30th over – Southee strays on to leg stump and Amla flicks the ball beautifully through midwicket for four.

29th over – Martin turns the innings on its head with a sensational burst of three wickets in four balls! WICKET – Martin produces a beauty with the first ball of the over to remove Jacques Kallis for a duck. Kallis is squared up and there is extra bounce, his prod at the ball sending an edge flying to first slip, where Ross Taylor dives to his left to take a super catch. WICKET – AB de Villiers is trapped lbw first ball by Martin, who jags a delivery back into the batsman, who is stuck in the crease and wafts at the ball rather aimlessly.

28th over – Southee bowls too short and a touch wide and Amla places his square-cut to perfection to collect his first four.

27th over – A great first over after tea by Martin brings reward. WICKET – Martin beats Graeme Smith a couple of times outside off stump and the irritated South African captain then reaches for a drive at a wide delivery, hitting the ball straight to Rob Nicol at a shortish cover. Smith showed plenty of determination in his two hours at the crease for 53 off 74 balls, but his team needed more from him.

Graeme Smith was eager to impose himself on the match as he steered South Africa to 86 for one at tea on the first day of the first test against New Zealand at the University Oval in Dunedin on Wednesday.

25th over – South Africa have had to dig in for the last half-hour or so as New Zealand’s bowlers clawed the run-rate back, but Smith now completes a determined half-century off 66 balls as he flicks a full ball from Tim Southee that is just outside off stump, through midwicket with great timing for four.

22nd over – Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori has troubled Hashim Amla, who is determined to do something about it. Amla charges down the wicket, is nowhere near the pitch of the ball, but reaches for the drive and gets it over mid-on for six!

12th over – A commanding stroke by Smith as he gets confidently on to the front foot and drives a fullish delivery from left-armer Trent Boult with the angle, from just outside off stump and in front of midwicket for four super runs.

10th over – WICKET – Alviro Petersen tries to drive a full ball from Boult wide of mid-on, misses and is given out lbw for 11 after New Zealand call for a review of umpire Aleem Dar’s original not out decision. Only an inside-edge could have saved Petersen, but alas, there wasn’t one. He was driving so well, perhaps he was lulled into a false sense of security …

9th over – Too full from Chris Martin and Petersen drives beautifully straight down the ground for four.

8th over – And Boult starts his second over poorly with a half-volley outside off stump, which Smith punches through mid-on for four.

6th over – Left-arm seamer Boult is brought on in an early bowling change, but it doesn’t go well as he concedes 11 runs in the over. His second ball is too short and Smith pulls well for his second boundary, while his last delivery is over-pitched and pushed crisply straight down the ground for four by Petersen.

3rd over – Martin is struggling early on to bowl a consistent line and, having pitched the ball outside leg stump, Smith can comfortably clip the ball of his wickets, down to fine leg for the first boundary of the test.

Hashim Amla and the consistent efforts of the bowlers led South Africa to a six-wicket victory, and the series win, with 70 balls to spare in the second ODI against New Zealand in Napier on Wednesday.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120229/Amla_consistent_bowlers_seal_series

South Africa’s bowlers – especially Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Morne Morkel – revelled in a McLean Park pitch that provided them with good pace and bounce and blasted New Zealand out for just 230.

Amla, after a poor tour thus far, then returned to his daily grind of making run-scoring look easy, breezing to 92 off 107 balls to make it a routine run-chase.

Amla telegraphed his intentions of doing the job as quickly and smoothly as possible by lashing six fours in his first 20 balls, while Faf du Plessis raced to 34 off 25 balls to ensure that South Africa were not affected either by the early loss of Jacques Kallis, who was superbly caught by wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum, diving forward, off Kyle Mills for four, or the fact that regular opener Graeme Smith was not playing due to a badly-bruised forearm.

Du Plessis and Amla laid down the law with a series of crunching strokes through the off side, adding 69 for the second wicket in just 8.4 overs, before a wonderful piece of cricket by Martin Guptill removed Du Plessis.

The in-form Nashua Titans batsman hooked Andy Ellis to deep square-leg, where Guptill took the catch but then quickly got rid of the ball as he tiptoed towards and then over the boundary rope. Having regained his balance, he then stepped back into the field of play and regathered the ball he had lobbed up, in a superb example of composure, calm and presence of mind.

This brought the Kiwis some respite from the flood of boundaries as JP Duminy came in, but the batsmen could afford to be selective as they needed only 151 runs from 231 balls.

Duminy was in even better touch than in the second ODI, and cruised to 43 off 39 balls before he was deceived by leg-spinner Tarun Nethula and offered a simple return catch.

Nethula was actually unfortunate to not finish with better figures than two for 60 off his 10 overs as he also gave Amla a tough time and could have had had three catches taken off his bowling.

Amla had reached his 17th ODI half-century off just 51 balls, but fell just short of his 10th century when Nethula finally claimed his scalp. It was a perfectly-pitched leg-break that Amla was tentative in playing off the front foot, edging the turning ball to wicketkeeper McCullum.

But that was the last wicket New Zealand took as skipper AB de Villiers (31*) and Justin Ontong (17*) applied the final touches to an impressive victory.

The bowlers had earlier done South Africa proud as they dismissed New Zealand for just 230, as a perfect batting pitch, short square boundaries and not even a second-wicket stand of 107 off 113 balls between Guptill and McCullum could faze the visitors as they claimed the last eight wickets for just 67 runs.

DIRECT AND UNYIELDING APPROACH

South Africa’s approach was direct and unyielding – the McLean Park pitch offered one consolation for the bowlers in the form of excellent bounce and the pacemen bombarded the New Zealand batsmen. The quality of the short-pitched bowling was such that the batsmen could not take consistent advantage of the short square boundaries.

Given that, it was unsurprising that South Africa’s two tallest bowlers were their most successful.

Morne Morkel was twice on a hat-trick as he claimed a superb, career-best five for 38 in 9.3 overs, while Tsotsobe continued his assault on the number one spot in the ICC rankings with outstanding figures of three for 43 in his 10 overs.

Captain De Villiers figured it would be a difficult ground on which to defend a total, so he sent New Zealand in and, after Tsotsobe had trapped Rob Nicol leg-before for 11, Guptill and McCullum put the home side on top.

Both batsmen devoured anything that offered width or was down leg, and those South Africans watching at home were facing an uncomfortable breakfast as New Zealand reached the halfway mark just one wicket down.

Smothering the run-rate was always going to be a difficult ask, so South Africa focused their attention on taking wickets.

The man who made the breakthrough was their very own version of the Bionic Man – Kallis.

The 36-year-old came rumbling in at good pace, Guptill had no business trying to cut a back-of-a-length delivery that leapt off the pitch, and wicketkeeper De Villiers had no problems taking the catch. The in-form opener had cruised to 58 off 73 balls without any problems, and his dismissal was nothing less than a waste.

McCullum was initially nowhere near as fluent as Guptill and little went for the South African bowlers early in his knock. The New Zealand captain had nevertheless regained his touch enough for him to take the batting powerplay in the 33rd over.

It turned out to be a disaster for the home side as they lost three wickets and scored just 20 runs in the five powerplay overs.

WELL-OILED ACTION

It was Tsotsobe who began the crash. The left-armer has such a well-oiled action these days and his accuracy quickly forced a false shot from Kane Williamson (13), who tried to drive the ball over the top. Kallis scooted backwards from mid-on and did superbly well to take the catch behind his head.

Tsotsobe’s next over brought the major scalp of McCullum, whose whip off his pads found a happy home in Ontong’s hands on the deep square-leg boundary. McCullum’s 85 off 96 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes, was a fine innings, but he missed the chance to really turn the knife.

The innings was done and dusted little more than an hour later, as fast bowlers Steyn and Morkel got down to business.

Jesse Ryder was caught behind off Steyn for a duck and Morkel used steep bounce to remove James Franklin (6) and Mills (0) with successive deliveries in the 38th over.

And Morkel did the same in the 46th over, removing Tim Southee, who had lashed a pair of fours and sixes in his 28, and Nethula (0) with successive balls.

Morkel then terminated the innings with 15 balls remaining when he bowled Ellis for 19.

New Zealand would have been in an even worse state if Tsotsobe had not given McCullum a life on 18 when he put down a relatively simple return catch. But it ended up not being a disaster, South Africa’s wonderful bowling attack being ample insurance against that.