SA v NZ 1st Test, Day 1 Review: New Zealand dominate proceedings

When the New Zealand team visited South Africa last time for a Test series in 2013, they were thoroughly outplayed by the hosts. Such dismal was their performance that the Kiwis lost by margins of an innings in both the Tests they played. This included the New Zealand team been bowled out for a paltry 45 in the first Test.

Things have changed now and the fortunes seemed to have reversed. South Africa find themselves in the bottom half of the Test rankings and, on the contrary, New Zealand are riding high on confidence under the new leadership of Kane Williamson. South Africa faced a whitewash at the hands of India last year, while the Kiwis tested their new team balance against Zimbabwe recently. With two emphatic wins over Zimbabwe, New Zealand looked set to be more challenging this time around against the Proteas.

The first of the 2-Test series kicked off at Durban in slightly overcast conditions. South Africa were jolted by injury of Morne Morkel but that left the skipper Faf du Plessis unfazed at the toss. Having won the toss, South Africa opted to bat first. South Africa went in with 3 frontline pacers – Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada – along with spinner Dane Piedt. New Zealand fielded pretty much the same core playing eleven that took the field against Zimbabwe. Ish Sodhi, though, failed to make it to the playing side.

In walked South African openers, Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar. For the visitors, Tim Southee shared the new ball with Trent Boult. The initial phase of the innings saw the openers play with caution and see the new ball through. It was in the 14th over, when Boult got rid of Cook (20 off 53 balls) to break the 33-run opening stand. Hashim Amla joined Elgar at the crease.

A couple of overs later, Doug Bracewell struck and removed Elgar (19 off 43 balls) to bring JP Duminy at the crease. Both Duminy and Amla played with caution and had the task of rebuilding the innings from the initial jitters of 41/2. Duminy’s resistance of 34 balls yielded 14 runs and was dismissed soon after the South African total crossed the 100-run mark. Neil Wagner provided the breakthrough for the hosts. Duminy’s departure saw Du Plessis arrive at the crease.

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Meanwhile, Amla looked elegant during his knock of 53 off 71 balls with 10 fours but departed soon after the dismissal of Duminy to bring in Temba Bavuma in the middle. Bavuma and Du Plessis added 54 runs for the 5th wicket before Du Plessis (23 off 84 balls) became Wagner’s 2nd scalp of the innings.

Bavuma was rightly supported by Quinton de Kock for a brief while. With South Africa at 160/5, the duo needed to get their act together to field some resistance. De Kock’s blazy run-a-ball 33 was studded with 7 fours as he looked in great touch. However, the southpaw was dismissed by Santner in the early overs of the 3rd session of the day’s play. A delivery later, Santner got the wicket of the other set batsman Temba Bavuma too, dismissing him on 46 that came off 90 deliveries.

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Vernon Philander (8 off 16) followed soon after to see South Africa reel on 228/8 with two new batsman, Kagiso Rabada (14*) and Dale Steyn (2*), in the middle. Bad light saw the day’s play end with only 77.4 overs being bowled. The visitors surely ruled the roost on the day. Wagner picked up 3/47 while Santner and Boult bagged 2 wickets each to unsettle the South African batting lineup.

Brief Scores:

South Africa 236/8 in 77.4 overs (Amla 53, Bavuma 46, Wagner 3/47, Santner 2/22)