1st Test: South Africa vs New Zealand Highlights Aug 19 - Aug 23, 2016
1st Test: South Africa vs New Zealand Highlights Aug 19 - Aug 23, 2016
3_x264 by powerfactory
1_x264 by powerfactory On a beautiful Friday morning in Kingsmead, Durban, two powerful forces of the game came face-to-face with each other. It was New Zealand who took on the mighty Proteas in the first of the two-match Test series.
South Africa, who were playing their first Test after a gap of more than 6 months, were without the services of their regular captain AB de Villiers. The dynamic wicket-keeper batsman was ruled out of the series due to injury issues.
At the toss, both the captains got what they wanted as Faf du Plessis, the stand-in captain for the Proteas, elected to bat, whereas Kane Williamson wanted to bowl first. The South African openers provided their team with a good start, but couldn’t continue it for a longer time as Stephen Cook got out to a beauty from Trent Boult. A few overs later, Doug Bracewell took his first wicket of the morning as he got rid of Dean Elgar by forcing the batsman to drive on the up. The two quick wickets slanted the match slightly in the favour of the Blackcaps, but a fifty run partnership between Amla and Duminy ensured that the hosts didn't lose any more wickets before the Lunch interval.
Just when the partnership looked productive from South Africa’s point of view, Duminy threw his wicket away by attempting to play a pull shot on the bowling of Neil Wagner. Soon, the Africans suffered another jolt when Boult got the big wicket of Amla. The elegant right-handed batsman scored a classy fifty before getting out. The second session also ended on a similar note as New Zealand couldn’t get any further breakthrough. It was the pair of Faf du Plessis and Temba Bavuma that helped their team to get back on the track as they strung a valuable 54-run partnership for the 5th wicket.
It appeared as if the Kiwis had made a habit of picking up a wicket right after the break. This time around, it was a brilliant catch by Kane Williamson in the gully region to get his opposite number out. After the dismissal of the skipper, de Kock joined Bavuma in the middle. The wicket-keeper batsman looked positive and batted with an aggressive intent right from the word go. He tried to up the scoring rate by smashing a few boundaries and in doing so, helped his team to get past the 200-run mark.
New Zealand were in dire need of a wicket and it was the left-arm spinner, Mitchell Santner, who delivered for them as he dismissed both the set batsmen in the same over. His double blow resulted in the Proteas sliding from 208-5 to 208-7. In the end, South Africa managed to score 236-8, after which bad light forced the play to end early.
South Africa
Support your team!- Stephen Cook
- Dean Elgar
- Hashim Amla
- Faf du Plessis (c)
- Jean-Paul Duminy
- Temba Bavuma
- Quinton de Kock (wk)
- Vernon Philander
- Dale Steyn
- Kagiso Rabada
- Dane Piedt
New Zealand
Support your team!- Martin Guptill
- Tom Latham
- Kane Williamson (c)
- Ross Taylor
- Henry Nicholls
- BJ Watling (wk)
- Mitchell Santner
- Doug Bracewell
- Tim Southee
- Neil Wagner
- Trent Boult
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