Ken Borland

Kyle Verreynne went to a superb maiden Test century and Kagiso Rabada was explosive with both bat and ball to put South Africa in firm control of the second Test against New Zealand on the fourth day at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Monday.

Verreynne’s 136 not out, a magnificent innings combining bravery, tenacity, composure and skill, carried the Proteas to 354/9 declared in their second innings.

It allowed them to set New Zealand the daunting target of 426, which has never been successfully chased in Test cricket before, and the home side had struggled to 94/4 at stumps on the penultimate day.

Rabada removed both openers, Will Young (0) and Tom Latham (1) in his first two overs and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj then began to weave his magic as he bowled both Henry Nicholls (7) and Daryl Mitchell (24) with brilliant deliveries.

Rabada ended the day with 2/17 in eight overs, while Maharaj bowled 16 overs and claimed 2/32.

Devon Conway was the one batsman to frustrate the Proteas as he showed plenty of determination, sticking around for 127 deliveries and reaching 60 not out.

South Africa began the fourth day on 140/5, just 211 ahead, and Verreynne and Wiaan Mulder had to show great composure and skill to get through the crucial first hour.

They took their sixth-wicket stand to 78 before Mulder fell for a valuable 35 on the first drinks break, wicketkeeper Tom Blundell taking a fine diving catch off Kyle Jamieson.

South Africa took lunch on 232/7 and a remarkable second session followed as Verreynne and a ferocious Rabada were in rampant form with the bat.

Rabada blasted a career-best 47 off just 34 balls with four sixes, while Verreynne also cut loose as 69 runs were thrashed in the first eight overs after the break.

New Zealand’s frustration did not end either with Rabada’s dismissal, as Verreynne added another 57 runs with Maharaj and Lutho Sipamla before the declaration came at the tea break.

Sarel Erwee has the physique of a boxer and the mental focus of an endurance athlete, but the man from Pietermaritzburg was candid about the personal mountains he has had to climb in order to play Test cricket.

The 32-year-old reached the summit of his journey on Friday as he notched his maiden Test century in just his second game, his 108 leading the Proteas to a commanding 238/3 at the end of the first day of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch.

“It’s a very special day for me, 28 months ago I didn’t think I was even close to the Test squad, in fact I was one phone call away from calling it quits on my cricket career,” Erwee revealed.

“But thanks to my parents’ encouragement and the help of a sports performance psychologist I began seeing in Durban, I got motivated again to give my best. We worked on my mental wellbeing.

“That was the turning point, it was daily work and a hard slog, but I could not just give up all the years I had sacrificed, even though at one stage it felt pointless and I felt worthless.

“But thanks to them I sit here today with a Test hundred behind my name, which is extremely special, even more so because of all the hard yards to get here,” Erwee said.

The left-handed opener was adroit in his shot-selection, showing great resilience, restraint and composure as South Africa elected to bat first in tricky conditions. Erwee showed a clear focus on playing straight, leaving well and putting away shots like the cover-drive that could get him in trouble early on in his innings.

“A lot has been said about the first Test and our preparation, and our backs were against the wall today,” Erwee said. “We had to stand up and deliver a punch and the best way to do that was by sticking to the basics.

“The way we performed today is going to be very uplifting for the next four days. We were all on the same page and we had a clear mindset before we went in to bat.

“The wind played more of a role today and the ball swung all day. But we are here to win, we want to leave these shores at 1-1 in the Test series.

“To do that we’ve got to man up, front up, and that’s what we did today. It’s a new Test with new energies, and if it meant batting first on a greenish pitch then so be it,” Erwee said.

Thirty-two year old opener Sarel Erwee has worked very hard to get to the top of the cricket pile and the left-hander made sure he enjoyed the view on Friday as he notched his maiden Test century to give South Africa the advantage after the first day of the second Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

Erwee, playing in just his second Test, showed great maturity and shot-selection as he scored 108 to lead the Proteas to a rock-solid 238/3 at stumps.

South Africa were batting first having made a surprise decision at the toss, but captain Dean Elgar’s hunch that the pitch did not look as green as the one for the first Test, proved spot-on.

Elgar and Erwee were impressively watchful but positive in their intent whether defending or attacking as they backed up the brave decision at the toss with a wonderful opening stand that took the Proteas to 80/0 at lunch.

New Zealand eventually made their first breakthrough half-an-hour after lunch when Elgar, having scored a tenacious 41, was beaten and bowled all-ends-up by a superb Tim Southee delivery that was angled into the left-hander before nipping away to hit the top of off-stump.

Erwee batted on, however, going to his century in the over before tea, having stroked 13 fours in 188 balls. His driving through the covers and straight, and his clips off his pads, were particularly pleasing on the eye.

Aiden Markram, his Test career in flux, dug himself in carefully, building a vital second-wicket stand of 88 with Erwee. The Test rookie showed great composure through the ebbs and flows of his innings, as did Markram as they rode out a particularly testing period before tea when the Black Caps bowled five consecutive maiden overs.

Markram was just starting to shift gears and had played a number of fine attacking strokes to boost his score to 42 when he suffered a lapse in concentration, driving at a full, wide delivery from left-armer Neil Wagner and edging into the slips.

It ended a highly promising innings, plus New Zealand managed to add the wicket of Erwee in the next over, being caught behind off Matt Henry.

The two quick strikes led to a lift in intensity from the bowlers and Temba Bavuma survived a couple of edges through the slips and Rassie van der Dussen was dropped on 7 at midwicket by Will Young off Henry.

But they were both there at the end, ready to resume on the second day with Van der Dussen on 13 and Bavuma having added 22.

Given what transpired in the first Test, the opening day of the second Test was a massive positive for South Africa.

The Proteas may have spent the last couple of days off the field in reflection, but Test vice-captain Temba Bavuma said there was no shelter from the honest, harsh discussions they needed to have in the wake of their humiliating innings-and-276-run defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the first Test in Christchurch.

With the second Test against the reigning world champions starting at the same venue at midnight on Thursday evening South African time, the Proteas need to produce a drastically improved showing after their awful batting, bowling and fielding in the first match.

“We had conversations as a team and they were mostly around honesty surrounding our performance,” Bavuma said on Tuesday. “Losing like that in practically a two-day Test match is not good enough.

“We did not produce the standards we pride ourselves on in all three disciplines. We are all very disappointed and we know we have to improve.

“Yes, our energies were down in the first Test, but that’s no excuse. We have to make sure we’re in a better mental and physical state to compete this week.

“And it starts with being honest. The performance was simply not good enough,” Bavuma said.

Although it may seem like the Proteas are buried under an avalanche of soft dismissals, poor deliveries and dropped catches, Bavuma is still confident they can dig themselves out of their predicament and still level the two-match series, maintaining their proud record of having never lost a series to New Zealand.

“We’ve had to remind the guys that over the last while we have overcome a lot and this is not a foreign situation. We know how to come back when our backs are against the wall,” Bavuma said.

“We do have the character and we can take confidence from how we have performed over the last while, as a team we can take a lot of positives from how we have fought before.

“Last week is now gone and it’s important how we come back. We are preparing as best we can to put our best foot forward.

“The sun has come out and the Hagley Oval pitch should be a bit more pleasant to bat on. We expect conditions to be a bit different,” Bavuma said.