SA v NZ, 1st Test Review: Rains and wet outfield comes back to haunt Test cricket

While the final Test between West Indies and India succumbed to the wet outfield, the first SA v NZ Test match at Kingsmead in Durban has not escaped the torrential rains as well as the South Africa winter. In the wee hours of Tuesday morning where the play was eventually called off and the match deemed as a draw. While the India v West Indies Test match ensured that there was indeed more at stake when it came to playing all days of the match, in the case of the SA v NZ Test, what was at stake was a great game of cricket. Although New Zealand has never beaten South Africa in a Test series before, the match would have most certainly yielded perhaps some of the most epic proportions. Day One of the first Test began quite late when there were light showers on the first day’s play. However, play continued as scheduled when the South Africans were put into bat early on the day. Things got off to a pretty bad start when Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar were the ones to lose their wickets early in the day. However, there was some solace for the Proteas when Hashim Amla rolled back the years when he played a masterful knock of 53. Although the wickets continued to fall at the other end, Temba Bavuma (46) and Quinton de Kock (33) batted a wonderful partnership as the home side once again dug themselves out of trouble. Kagiso Rabada impressed one and all with the bat as he smashed 32 quick runs that helped South Africa reach a score of 263. Also read – Still have a long way to go in my career: Irfan Pathan The New Zealand batting innings got off to a shambolic start, to say the least. They lost two quick wickets to a fiery Dale Steyn who showed no remorse for the batsmen. At 15/2, the rains came down hard and stayed for the remainder of the match as the final morning concluded in handshakes inside the dressing rooms. With the field still too unsafe to play, the team's have shaken hands & the 1st Test is a draw #savnz ^WN pic.twitter.com/7vpGVb3uW2 — BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) August 23, 2016 Brief Scores: South Africa, 1st innings: 263 all out (H Amla 53; T Boult 3/53) New Zealand, 1st innings: 15/2 (D Steyn 2/3) Match Drawn

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SA v NZ, 1st Test Review: Rains and wet outfield comes back to haunt Test cricket

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