South Africa v India, only T20, Johannesburg,Probables

India fly miles for match without context

Big Picture

If you thought India's away season had finally ended with the Asia Cup, then you are wrong. There's one more game, a Twenty20 against South Africa at the Wanderers, shoehorned into the tiny gap between the Asia Cup and the start of the IPL, which starts five days later. It's the sort of scheduling usually reserved for unofficial charity games. South Africa have just arrived from a full tour of New Zealand. When this game was announced officially earlier this month, the big question was not why not, but why.

Cricket South Africa has announced that this will be an annual affair, following last year's Twenty20 game between the two sides at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban. That match was Makhaya Ntini's farewell game. Tomorrow's match is dedicated to Jacques Kallis, and the proceeds will go to his scholarship foundation. The game might be for a noble cause, but is anybody aware that it is even happening? National newspapers in India have dedicated vast amounts of column space to the lead-up to the IPL. There's little mention that the national team has flown to the southern hemisphere again, to play a solitary match. The channel broadcasting the game in India have started a countdown to the game as a bid to aggressively market it in the middle of two ongoing international series.

Fans can be forgiven if they say they are fatigued, but MS Dhoni, the India captain, insists his team is not. It is his style to put a positive spin on everything, even when the ship is sinking. His team and the support-staff have clocked so many air miles in the last few months that they probably feel sick at the sight of airport lounges and hotel rooms. A one-off match with little context is the last thing they would have wanted.

South Africa have shown some compassion, resting their jet-lagged senior Test players (except Kallis and Lonwabo Tsotsobe). There's no rest for India's seniors, bar Sachin Tendulkar (though he doesn't play T20 internationals). Perhaps this could be seen as a last-ditch attempt to end a horrific season with a win. The IPL franchises have already vented their displeasure about the odd scheduling of this game because the India players are missing from the pre-tournament camps. The hosts are winding down their domestic season so this game hardly disrupts their plans.

A year down the line, if you forget this game took place, don't beat yourself up. In this era of "cricket excess", it's hard enough to remember a game which finished yesterday.

Form Guide

(most recent first)
South Africa WWLWL
India WLLLW

In the spotlight

When Richard Levi's name was called out at the IPL auction this year, it did not create a ripple. A blazing century off 45 balls (a record for Twenty20 internationals) in Hamilton made those franchises sit up. He was promptly signed up by Mumbai Indians. This will be most Indian fans' first chance to see him.

India's bowlers conceded 329 and 289 in their last two one-day internationals. Their generosity peaked in the match against Bangladesh, where they dished out full-tosses by the dozen. That malaise affected Australia recently. Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan have shown they can bowl swinging yorkers, though sporadically. Death bowling could be the difference for India.

Pitch and conditions

A batting track is expected. The altitude in Johannesburg, though, could test the India players.

Teams

The hosts seem to be approaching the game quite casually. The 13 players did not train, and the captain Johan Botha hadn't even met the coach Gary Kirsten the day before the game. There were rumours that the uncapped batsman Farhaan Behardian will play.

South Africa (probable) 1 Richard Levi, 2 Farhaan Behardian, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Faf du Plessis, 5 Colin Ingram, 6 Albie Morkel, 7 Dane Vilas/Morne van Wyk (wk), 8 Johan Botha (capt), 9 Wayne Parnell, 10 Rusty Theron, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe

India, for whatever logic, picked 15 players for a solitary match. There were no announcements from the India camp. Robin Uthappa, coming off good form for Karnataka in the domestic one-dayers, looks good for a recall. Manoj Tiwary has sat on the bench ever since he scored a one-day century in December. Will his wait end?

India (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Praveen Kumar, 11 Ashok Dinda

Stats and Trivia

• India are returning to the venue where they played their first ever Twenty20. Albie Morkel is the only survivor for South Africa from that game.
• India lead the head-to-head in Twenty20s by an overwhelming 4-1.
• The Wanderers has the highest runs-per-over - 8.23 - among grounds which have hosted a minimum of eight games.

Quotes

"There are a lot of young players we are trying to groom, and hopefully it will pay dividends in the future. From our point of view there is a lot of talent around, we need to give them the exposure they require."
Duncan Fletcher, India's coach, says this game has value after all.

"With the World Twenty20 coming up in October, every T20 game is important and you can learn in every game."
Johan Botha says preparation for the World Twenty20 will be the focus in the one-off game.

New Zealand v South Africa, 3rd Test, Wellington, Day 5,Test Result DRAW

South Africa 474 for 9 dec (Petersen 156, Duminy 103, Gillespie 6-113) and 189 for 3 dec (de Villiers 68) drew with New Zealand 275 (Guptill 59, Philander 6-81) and 200 for 6 (Williamson 102*, Morkel 6-23)

An outstanding rearguard 102 from Kane Williamson negated Morne Morkel's career-best figures of 6 for 23, as New Zealand held on for 80.4 overs to draw the third Test at the Basin Reserve. South Africa gifted Williamson two lives and the umpires one, but a flawless last session, much of it in the company of a courageous Doug Bracewell, ensured his side could glean positives from a difficult series, though they lost 1-0. New Zealand ended at 200 for 6, 189 short of the target they never attempted. 



The sparse Wellington crowd cheered every wicketless delivery, as the full day's quota approached. Hampered by the loss of Ross Taylor, New Zealand had only nine wickets to play with, but Williamson and Bracewell, who played out 19.1 overs together ensured Mark Gillespie and Chris Martin were left unused. The Test had one final twist when the new ball became available with one over to bowl, but Vernon Philander could not break Bracewell, proving there were some things even he can't to with the ball, despite having enhanced his fearsome reputation with each game this tour. 



Smart stats Kane Williamson's hundred was his second in Tests. It was also the 15th century by a New Zealand batsmanagainst South Africa and the first since 2006. Since their readmission, South Africa have won seven of the eight series against New Zealand. The only drawn series was in 2003-04. Morne Morkel's 6 for 23 was his fifth five-wicket haul inTests and his first since his 5 for 20 against India in Centurion in 2010. Morkel's 6 for 23 was the third-best bowling performance by a South African in Tests against New Zealand. It was also fifth on the list of top bowling performances by visiting bowlers in Wellington. AB de Villiers' strike rate of 138.77 during his innings of 68 was his highest for a fifty-plus score in Tests. Overall, it was second on the list of highest strike rates for fifty-plus scores for South African batsmen.

South Africa added four clear-cut chances in the second innings to the five they'd missed yesterday. Alviro Petersen spilt Williamson on 10, diving to his right at gully only to palm it to the ground. The drop was particularly painful for Petersen who had appeared to take a low chance cleanly several overs before, only for the third umpire to deem Williamson not out, to South Africa's surprise. AB de Villiers was the next culprit, dropping a low chance at second slip with Williamson on 22. Dean Brownlie then got a life from Graeme Smith, though he didn't capitalise, adding no more runs before being dismissed and Bracewell was shelled late in the day, again by de Villiers at second slip. 



If Williamson had been fortunate to survive till tea, his batting through the final session was pure technique and application. Not having to contend with hooping outswing or biting turn, Williamson tuned his mind solely to blunting South Africa's favourite weapon in the third Test: bounce. Picking the lifters early, he'd duck everything South Africa pitched in their own half. If the balls were fuller - just short of a length - he'd climb on his tip-toes, elbows always high, and punch the ball down into the off side. Yorkers came into vogue later in the session, but having seen Morkel unleash hell with those at the other end, he was prepared. He dug them out dutifully, turning down runs into the outfield to keep himself on strike. 



New Zealand's now-abandoned four-seamer policy had been tried partly because Doug Bracewell's first class career had promised runs at Test level. Until his 59-ball 20 here, he'd barely distinguished himself above Chris Martin as a batsman. Bracewell flirted dangerously outside off stump twice; once off Morkel and once off Steyn, and was dropped in the slips once, but otherwise willow met leather comfortably whenever a stroke was offered. He even ventured two consecutive fours either side of the stumps off Marchant de Lange in the last half hour, as South Africa grew desperate. With Bracewell's defence seeming more secure with each stroke, Williamson no longer bothered shielding him from the strike towards the end. 



Williamson's 228-ball vigil had begun when Brendon McCullum was dismissed in the fifth over. With Taylor undergoing surgery, Williamson had been promoted to No. 4, and his inexperience showed, as both he and Martin Guptill shut down their scoring almost completely for the duration of their partnership. Williamson's first ten runs came from 55 deliveries, and with South Africa able to pool all their resources into attack, it was only a matter of time until the wicket came. Guptill edged Morkel to gully soon after lunch. 



Positivity eventually found its way into Williamson's game, and he and Dean Brownlie resisted, making their second 50-run stand of the game. A serene straight drive off Vernon Philander was followed by consecutive sweeps to the fence off JP Duminy, and Williamson flew towards his second fifty of the series as the field relaxed somewhat. Kruger van Wyk contributed another gritty knock, holding the visitors at bay for 80 deliveries either side of tea, and was perhaps unlucky that Morkel stuck out his left hand on his follow-through to snatch a bludgeoned drive. He partnered Williamson for the longest time of his team-mates, as their stand ate up more than a quarter of the overs New Zealand batted out. 



South Africa were hamstrung by a pitch that had flattened out significantly throughout the Test, but would have been disappointed that in spite of all the missed chances, only Morkel was able to take wickets. Philander was threatening, as always, sticking methodically to the back-of-a-length and off-stump line that had reaped him so much success in the series, but having suffered at his hands so severely, New Zealand finally seemed capable of combating his threat - even if the pitch did much of this for them. Steyn was unlucky, as he has been all series. Most of the dropped chances in the match were off his bowling, and Steyn swung the ball early, at good pace, for no reward. 



Three of Morkel's wickets came from searing yorkers. McCullum couldn't get bat to one that would have hit leg stump, Brownlie let one slip beneath his bat and Daniel Vettori barely had time to register being at the crease before Morkel bowled him first ball. Late in the day, Morkel tried everything to dismiss Williamson and Bracewell, but the batsmen were resolute. An over of short balls was followed by one where he pitched full, but nothing worked. 



Smith vexingly wasted thirteen overs by using JP Duminy, who never looked like breaking through, though among his other regrets may be batting for too long at the start of the day. Though de Villiers made good use of the time they kept New Zealand in the field, making a 49-ball 68, perhaps 388 was far too conservative a lead, given New Zealand had not passed 300 in the series.

New Zealand v South Africa, 3rd Test, Wellington, Day3,Cricinfo

Tea South Africa 437 for 7 (Boucher 30*, Philander 18*) v New Zealand  

A string of wickets in the second session lifted New Zealand from the dire to merely the desperate, but South Africa remained well ahead in the Test, moving to 437 for 7. Chris Martin and Mark Gillespie took two wickets each, clawing through South Africa's middle order in the first period in the match the hosts can claim to have won, but the wickets were still too few and the score already too large to give New Zealand anything more than a thin chance of levelling the series.

Movement off the pitch had largely evaded New Zealand throughout the innings, but a reinvigorated attack led by Martin used the seam to reap their most fruitful session of the Test. Alviro Petersen had scarcely played a false stroke in the first session, but was trapped in front by a Martin indipper in the first over of the second. AB de Villiers then fell to a similar ball four overs later, inside edging onto his middle stump.

Gillespie also found immediate reward for movement, removing Jacques Rudolph for 11 with another one that wobbled off the seam. Rudolph, who had tweeted his disapproval of the Wellington weather the previous evening, can hardly have improved his opinion of the place after a failure with the bat.

Dale Steyn preceded Vernon Philander to the crease, but was soon sent back, again by Gillespie, who surprised him with a foot of extra bounce. For the first time in the match, New Zealand had prevented opposition partnerships from taking root, and having toiled for 3 wickets while South Africa amassed 362, the hosts had suddenly taken 4 for 42.

Philander partnered Mark Boucher astutely, exercising caution and opportunism in equal parts - much as the top order had done previously, and the pair put on an unbeaten 33 without offering a chance.

Earlier, hundreds from Alviro Petersen and JP Duminy had consolidated South Africa's dominance, and taken them to a near unassailable position. Petersen had been perched on 96 overnight, and although New Zealand had the new ball with which to eke a nervous stroke, Petersen moved to triple figures as smoothly as he had navigated the wind and the rain on day two. A cover drive off Chris Martin's fourth ball reaped the first two runs of the day, before a rasping cut brought his third Test ton, confirming his place in the batting order after four muddling performances on tour had put it in jeopardy.

His approach changed little following the milestone as he stuck methodically to the scoring strokes that had carried him to his first success in New Zealand. Drives straight and through cover were measured out when the hosts went looking for swing, and the pull again proved productive, particularly off Daniel Vettori, who had bowled a touch short throughout the Test.

JP Duminy moved deep into the nineties with three consecutive cover drives, handsomely struck off Doug Bracewell, but was made to wait 18 balls to move from 98 to 100. He did not allow his anxiety to turn into rashness, though. A clip off the pads brought him his century - the second in his career after the match-winning 166 at the MCG in 2008. The pair had put on 200 for the third wicket before Duminy was caught at slip off Gillespie.

New Zealand v South Africa, 3rd Test, Wellington, Day1,Cricinfo

South Africa 136 for 2 (Amla 63, Petersen 44*, Duminy 23*) v New Zealand 

A fluent 63 from Hashim Amla eased South Africa to 136 for 2 at stumps, after a wet outfield in the morning and poor light late in the day only allowed 42 overs to be bowled. Ross Taylor chose to field on a green surface expected to seam, but although Graeme Smith was removed by one that jagged off the pitch, New Zealand struggled to achieve pronounced movement for extended periods, with spinner Daniel Vettori called on to contribute more than a quarter of the hosts' overs. Alviro Petersen played a restrained knock to end the day in sight of his first half-century of the series, while JP Duminy, who replaced an injured Jacques Kallis, was unbeaten on 23.

Amla was gifted a leg-glance to the fine-leg fence to ease him into his innings, but it wasn't long before the offside repertoire was humming happily as well. A back-foot stroke through the covers was more unwound, than punched or played, while two cuts either side of point disappeared to the boundary before the fielder had budged, much less moved, to intercept the shot. He was beaten soundly twice on the inside edge, but didn't allow either ball to dent his positivity, dispatching Dean Brownlie for three commanding boundaries in the same over he went past 50.

But the languid nature of Amla's strokeplay was increasingly matched by the slowness of his movement in the middle - perhaps hampered by a ball he'd edged onto his groin early on - and he perished playing an uncharacteristically flat-footed pull off Mark Gillespie soon after tea.

Alviro Petersen was reserved in comparison, often finding sprightly fielders when he played full-blooded shots, but content to defend nonetheless. He had struggled with the ball that came into him, falling to it thrice in four innings so far in the series, but navigated Chris Martin's inswingers with more poise on this occasion, dabbing it straight against the early movement. He charged Daniel Vettori to loft him over the ropes before leaning back to blast him through square leg as tea approached, but they were rare shows of violence in a dour display.

New Zealand had started well through Martin and Doug Bracewell, but waned in threat as the movement steadily gave out despite their discipline. Gillespie could find neither the direction nor the pace that decimated South Africa's middle order in the first innings in Hamilton, and was lucky to claim Amla with a short, wide ball. That wicket breathed some edge into the New Zealand attack in the nine overs after tea, but Duminy only helped himself to some quick runs into the vacant outfield with the bowlers attacking.

Early in the day's play, New Zealand's first wicket was marred somewhat by controversy. Martin beat Smith's outside edge repeatedly with movement in the air and off the pitch, but it was the other edge that brought the batsman's demise, even though Smith felt he had not made contact. Aleem Dar and New Zealand were convinced ball brushed the willow when Bracewell brought one in past Smith's cover drive, but despite a review from the batsman, and Hot Spot showing nothing, Dar's decision was upheld.

New Zealand v South Africa, 2nd Test, Hamilton,Match facts

Teams start over after tough first Test

The tone for the series was set in Dunedin with a competitive match being cut short by rain. The result, or lack thereof, has left the series on a fairly even keel heading into the second round. Both sides insist they felt in with a chance of winning the first one. Although the experts believed South Africa were more likely to take eight wickets on the final day than New Zealand were to score 264 runs, both teams believe they had momentum on their side.

In sport, particularly a Test series, it's a clichéd but important thing to have the pendulum swinging your way because it dictates the mood of the camp. In this case, the two teams each think the advantage lies with them, which should provide a hard-fought Test.

For South Africa, an early downer will be that the chance to claim the No.1 ranking and the $175,000 payout that will be made on April 1 is gone. But the opportunity to win a series away from home remains. As the best travellers in the game over the last five years, building on that trend will be vital.

They admitted to a concern with starting slowly, with Alviro Petersen saying the first day of the Dunedin Test "wasn't ideal for us". Now that they have found their stride, they want to keep it there. South Africa's big guns fired with the bat in the second innings, the bowlers did it in the first innings but the collective effort did not come together as quickly as they would have liked. Ideally, South Africa would want to score the same amount of runs in the second innings as they did in the first and give themselves enough time to bowl their opposition out twice, which Graeme Smith believes they are capable of doing.

New Zealand have more general worries. The coach John Wright spoke about the importance of taking 20 wickets and Ross Taylor has emphasised that the top five need to score the bulk of the runs because of the balance of the side. They seem to have accepted that the gulf between them and South Africa is reflected in more than just rankings - with the former at No.2 and the latter No.8 - but their determination to close that is evident

In the spotlight

Having moved down the order, Brendon McCullum has taken on the key role of No.3 and appears to be enjoying it. He has shown his temperament can be suited to anchoring or being the aggressor. Having just come off a prolonged stint as captain during Ross Taylor's injury lay-off, McCullum has established his place as the senior statesman of the side, both on and off the field. If New Zealand are do to well, McCullum has to play a leading role.

Dale Steyn's lean patches are usually followed by destructive bursts. With more swing in the air than Dunedin and a pitch that looks like it could have something in it for the seamers, Steyn will have the conditions on his side in Hamilton. What will be interesting to see is whether he will have the mindset as well. Steyn bowled some unplayable spells in Dunedin, which remarkably didn't find the edge as often as he would have liked, a sign that his next blistering performance is not far away.

Team news

Rob Nicol will keep his place as one of the opening batsmen after a tough debut. McCullum will bat at No.3, where John Wright said he had been "pretty comfortable". The only question is who will replace Tim Southee and the choice seems to be between Brent Arnel and Mark Gillespie, who has not played Test cricket for New Zealand since 2008. Andrew Ellis, who could also bolster the batting, has the outside chance. Tarun Nethula, the legspinner who was also brought into the squad for this game, is unlikely to play.

New Zealand (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Rob Nicol, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Kane Williamson, 6 Daniel Vettori, 7 Kruger van Wyk (wk), 8 Doug Bracewell, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Mark Gillespie/Brent Arnel, 11 Chris Martin.

Injury may keep AB de Villiers out of the side after he sprained his ankle during practice on Tuesday, though he tweeted that he 'should be ready'. JP Duminy and Robin Peterson both batted in the nets on Wednesday and should de Villiers be unfit, Duminy is likely to make a return in the longest format. The rest of the line-up should be unchanged with Imran Tahir set to play, in anticipation of turn later on in the match, and Marchant de Lange to miss out, despite the green strip.

South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers/JP Duminy, 6 Jacques Rudolph, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir.

Pitch and conditions

A green pitch greeted the eye two days before the match and it remained that way on the eve of the game. The grass will likely be cut the morning of the Test, before the sun has had the opportunity to bake the surface too much. Talk is that it will be a traditional strip, with something in it for the bowlers on the first morning and friendly for the batsmen for the rest of the match. Heavy rain is forecast for the fifth day, Monday, which could mirror the first Test and the teams will want to secure a result before the heavens open.

New Zealand v South Africa, 1st Test, Dunedin, 2nd day

New Zealand 243 for 9 (McCullum 48, Vettori 46, Taylor 44, Philander 4-50) lead South Africa 238 (Amla 62, Smith 53, Rudolph 52, Martin 4-56) by five runs

A gripping second day of Test cricket at the University Oval in Dunedin left precious little separating the teams, with New Zealand five runs ahead of South Africa's 238, with a wicket in hand. New Zealand's top order battled swing bowling of the highest quality before lunch and aggressive short pitched pace after it, but could not definitively wrest the advantage, as South Africa prised wickets at regular intervals.

No New Zealand batsman crossed fifty, though Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori all came close, with 40s to their name. Taylor and McCullum had survived a brutal encounter with Morne Morkel after lunch, but could not apply themselves long enough to consolidate, while Vettori fell to a brilliant low take from Jacques Kallis on his follow through.

Vernon Philander rarely strayed a few inches from off stump in his first spell of the day, and was rewarded with the wicket of Rob Nicol, who had struggled on debut. Philander finished the day with 4 for 50 - another performance that will embellish a growing reputation as one of the most exciting seam-bowling finds in recent memory. Morkel finished with two, having peppered McCullum and Taylor with as hostile a spell they are ever likely to encounter, while Steyn will feel he bowled better than 1 for 71 suggests.

Martin Guptill and McCullum may have thought they'd blunted the worst of South Africa's assault in the hour before lunch, but the interrogation continued well into the afternoon session, as Morkel unleashed a ferocious spell once movement began to dwindle for his team-mates. The slower Dunedin track had hampered Morkel prior to lunch, but a return to the crease with renewed vigour yielded immediate results, as Guptill was late on a defensive stroke, and tested the mettle of New Zealand's most experienced batting pair.

A smattering of welts on Taylor's arms, chest and shoulders will let him know he has been in a fight. He wore several in his first exchange with Morkel - two on the fingers, one on the ribs and two more glancing blows just below the helmet grille. Edges deflected off the body, landed short of the slips or flew just wide. Though New Zealand had done well to lose only one wicket to an artful hour of swing and seam bowling in the first session, they were now examined gruffly with the next weapon in South Africa's armoury.

Though clearly intimidated, Taylor and McCullum refused to be shaken. While Morkel was often unplayable, the runs started to tick at the other end when Philander's impeccable line began to waiver. Movement from earlier in the day had all but disappeared, and the drives down the ground that had grown more profitable became New Zealand's favoured currency.

But as has been the case so many times in their careers McCullum and Taylor's belligerence proved to be their downfall. Having battled through two terrific spells from one of the world's finest attacks, they aggressed too early, and too mindlessly, just as consolidation beckoned. Their 65-run association was broken when McCullum attempted to sweep Imran Tahir hard against the turn, serving up a high top edge, before Taylor chased a wide one and was caught behind. He'd already hit two fours in the over.

Vettori mounted a familiar recovery alongside Kruger van Wyk, working the South Africa attack square of the wicket with so little fuss his team-mates' innings seemed grating by comparison. Sweetly struck boundaries to the cover point fence and the swivel pull shot to the leg side were as productive as ever, pushing Graeme Smith to deploy four men on the fence - the most defensive field across both days of the Test.

Debutant van Wyk meanwhile was steady and organised. South Africa's pacemen towered over him, and Morkel gave him the perfunctory working over - but if van Wyk was intimidated, there were few signs. The back foot defence gave was his favoured reply to the seamers, but he was equally adept against spin - picking Tahir better than most in the order, and even tickling him fine with the occasional paddle sweep.

Vettori was eventually undone by indecision, as he was cruising towards a fifty that would have been New Zealand's first of the innings, when Jacques Kallis dived low on his follow through to snaffle a half-hearted bunt. Doug Bracewell then joined the resistance - showing the kind of batting prowess that has earned him three first class fifties, but hasn't yet been evident at the top level. He put on 41 alongside van Wyk, ensuring first his defence was in order before attempting the more expansive strokes - five of which brought him a boundary, as New Zealand edged towards the first-innings lead.

van Wyk and Tim Southee fell in quick succession to the second new ball, as Philander embellished an already-menacing career average. But Bracewell was good enough to edge his side ahead, before losing his off stump to Steyn.

The first session lacked the drama of the two to follow, but Steyn's new-ball partnership with Philander was unlucky to have only gleaned one reward. In bright sunshine, Steyn found the movement in the air that had eluded New Zealand's bowlers under cloud cover the previous day, after South Africa's tail added 47 to the overnight score before being finished off.

Steyn beat both opener's edge repeatedly and emphatically, with Philander doing the same at the other end - he did it with his pinpoint line and movement off the seam. McCullum and Guptill were forced to call on every sinew of expertise to ensure survival, and they hobbled to lunch, at 40 for 1, only to be bombarded by Morkel when play resumed.

New Zealand v South Africa, 1st Test, Dunedin, 1st day,Cricinfo

South Africa 191 for 7 (Amla 62, Smith 53, Martin 3-34) v New Zealand

A Chris Martin triple-strike just after tea justified Ross Taylor's decision to bowl first on a placid Dunedin surface, as New Zealand first toppled South Africa's top order giants, then made headway into the tail, to leave the visitors on 191 for 7 at stumps on the first day. Heavy clouds failed to deliver the swing Taylor had banked on, but Martin's stunning spell against his favourite opponent among the top-eight nations, turned the innings, and drew first blood in the series.

The drama of Martin's surge was heightened by its abruptness. Following a sleepy first session that offered so little for the pacemen that South Africa seemed destined for a mammoth total, Martin snaffled Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers in four balls to tear the guts out of the opposition top order.

The rush of intensity was immediately apparent in Martin's first few balls after tea. Twice he beat Smith's outside edge, before hitting the batsman on the midriff with a straighter one. Having finished the previous session somewhat deflated, New Zealand suddenly sensed change. When Smith scooped the next one to short cover, they were positively buzzing.

The first ball of Martin's next over was sharp, short and angled. Too good for Kallis who could only manage an edge, which Taylor flew to his left to intercept. AB de Villiers was trapped by an indipper first ball. His review interrupted New Zealand's celebrations momentarily, before replays confirmed the shout was as plumb as they come. From a comfortable 86 for 1, South Africa had slipped to 90 for 4.

The recovery from South Africa, though somewhat short-lived, was swift and pleasing to the eye. Hashim Amla unfurled the offside strokes that bore him fruit in the ODI series, as he nullified a reinvigorated New Zealand pace attack that were once again searching for scalps. Purring cover drives and crisp square cuts found the ropes, and in 80 balls, he and Jacques Rudolph had scored 66.

But having crossed 50, Amla fell to his nemesis from earlier in the innings. His tussle with Daniel Vettori had been the most engrossing battle of the earlier session, when the spinner's turn beat his outside edge in his attempts to defend, and Vettori's flight outdid enterprising scurries down the pitch. That time, the release had come for Amla when he finally connected to launch Vettori into the stands. But in his first over after tea, Vettori landed the knockout punch when he got one to kick, taking Amla's edge.

Mark Boucher was then the victim of the run-out South Africa looked like offering thoughout the day. Smith and Amla had survived one chance each, when fielders failed to hit the stumps. But this time, no direct hit was necessary. Boucher bounded from the non-striker's end when Rudolph worked Vettori to point, and Bracewell swooped and found Kruger van Wyk's gloves with his throw, to leave the visitors at 161 for 6. Dale Steyn succumbed soon after, with Taylor snaffling a rebound from Martin Guptill in the slips to leave his side much the happier of the two at stumps.

The day had begun so promisingly for South Africa after almost four hours were lost to rain, when Graeme Smith progressed untroubled to a 31st Test half-century. New Zealand's decision to insert the opposition on a slow, batsmen's track seemed like folly when hopeful, full lengths from Martin, Trent Boult and Tim Southee were punched through the line by Smith in particular.

Misjudgment on line, rather than significant movement removed Alviro Petersen for 11, but with Amla and Smith progressing smoothly, and the cloud cover expected to clear for the evening session, a large total beckoned. Smith was punishing on the leg side, when New Zealand's pacemen abandoned their hopes for swing and muscled it in short, and his flick off middle stump for four just prior to tea epitomised his command of conditions. But things were about to change, and quickly.

South Africa Sweep Series 3-0 By Newzealand

South Africa 208 for 5 (Amla 76, Morkel 41) beat New Zealand 206 (McCullum 47, de Lange 4-46) by five wickets

South Africa rested their bowler of the series and three injured batsmen, promoted a tailender to the top of the order, and had their big-hitting allrounder at No.3, but New Zealand still could not prevent a heavy five-wicket loss and a whitewash in a series that rarely had the visitors extended. Marchant de Lange had broken loose over a brittle New Zealand middle order to set up the emphatic victory - his 4 for 46 helping to dismiss the hosts for a paltry 206 after Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe had built an impressive dam of pressure with the new ball. Hashim Amla made another pleasing half-century to lead South Africa's reply, which achieved the target in the 44th over.

New Zealand's innings clunked and whirred in frustrating spurts until the hosts were put out of their misery in 47th over. Though they did well at times to negotiate terrific one-day bowling, particularly from South Africa's fast men, wickets fell with startling regularity and batsmen succumbed just as New Zealand seemed to be recovering from the last blow. The first five partnerships read 13, 32, 29, 31, 55. Each pair had a start, but none could complete the recovery they had begun, as batsmen lost their heads and their wickets to surrender any momentum they had wrested - usually at a significant cost to the scoring-rate.

South Africa were almost casual in reply. Wayne Parnell, who has an ODI average below 20 and a List A average below 25, opened the innings with Hashim Amla, after Jacques Kallis and Justin Ontong joined Graeme Smith on the injury list. The pair made a swift 80-run dent in the target, before Parnell was dismissed in the 16th over. Even with South Africa's significantly depleted batting order, with Amla contributing once more, 207 turned out to be a cakewalk.

Amla's innings didn't match the pace of his Napier knock at Eden Park, but it was no less classy. Favouring the leg side for boundary hits this time, he negotiated the new ball with characteristic ease. A knee-high full toss from Kyle Mills was succinctly dispatched, before a serene glide down the ground brought four more in the next over. The ease with which Parnell also managed the early period perhaps betrayed the gulf between South Africa' new-ball pair - who at times were unplayable - and New Zealand's opening bowlers, but it was also a statement on an Eden Park pitch that suited batting.

Amla survived a reprieve on 30, when he was dropped by Nathan McCullum, but when he was eventually dismissed for 76, the middle order only needed to saunter home. Albie Morkel hit three sixes in a brisk 41, and though both Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy were dismissed late in the game by Rob Nicol, with less than 20 runs to get, AB de Villiers had little to do.

de Villiers had hoped to exploit the weather and a pitch that had had some rain when he opted to bowl, and his new-ball bowlers could have hardly made better use of the friendly conditions. The skid in the surface added another layer of venom to Steyn's outswing, while Tsotsobe's steady seamers also benefitted from movement not normally seen at Eden Park. The pair's unerring lines and impeccable length offered precious little to New Zealand's typically explosive top order, but even when they did stray, as Tsotsobe did in the fifth over, South Africa's fielders shone - Faf du Plessis dived well to his left to snatch a full blooded aerial cut from Martin Guptill.

While Steyn and Tsotsobe thrived on the movement created by their skill, de Lange's raw pace and aggressive length added the brutal edge to the attack. Rob Nicol was laid flat on his back by a 144kph bouncer at his throat, while McCullum, too, was hopping around deep in the crease to stay on top of the bounce.

Nicol succumbed to a slider from Johan Botha after he had done well to survive the pace barrage, but de Lange returned to fell McCullum in the 22nd over, in a dismissal that betrayed McCullum's scars from their previous battle. Having made 13 from Dale Steyn's previous over, McCullum seemed to be reviving a scoring-rate after having accumulated steadily alongside Kane Williamson. But he played back to de Lange, in anticipation of the quick, short ball, and ended up only scooping the full delivery to point.

Williamson and James Franklin then began yet another phase of rebuilding, but almost as soon as their association began to gain traction, Williamson was run out superbly by du Plessis, who was horizontal in mid-flight when he let his pinpoint throw fly. In a cruel snapshot of New Zealand's innings, the wicket had fallen the very delivery after the first four of the partnership was struck. 


Colin de Grandhomme lofted a free-hit ball over deep midwicket to relax early nerves on debut, and the risk-averse accumulation resumed anew, this time with perhaps a tad more vigour. Franklin was intent on dropping anchor, but de Grandhomme showed glimmers of his aggressive potential when he threw in the odd calculated slog amid the singles. But although a 40-minute rain delay just before the batting Powerplay didn't assuage de Grandhomme's desire to boost the scoring-rate, a hostile maiden from Steyn quieted his progress, and then a direct hit from Albie Morkel at mid-off silenced him altogether. Another start, another poor option and another dismissal just as a platform was being put together - New Zealand's innings read like a study in badly learnt lessons. de Grandhomme's departure left New Zealand 160 for 5 in the 39th over.

The wickets of Franklin - again to an awful shot - and Andrew Ellis, three overs later, plunged them further, and only a tailender's 13 from Michael Bates helped them limp beyond 200.

South Africa Lead Series 2-0

South Africa 231 for 4 (Amla 92, Duminy 43) beat New Zealand 230 (Brendon McCullum 85, Morne Morkel 5-38) by six wickets

An alluring one-day innings, this time from another of South Africa's batting juggernauts, Hashim Amla, saw the visitors canter to a series win with a six-wicket trouncing inside 39 overs in the second ODI in Napier. Amla's 92 took South Africa smoothly to within striking distance of the target, after a middle-order collapse from New Zealand had seen them bowled out in 47.3 overs for a woefully inadequate 230. Morne Morkel brushed aside the lower order and the tail, exploiting a hard pitch that supplemented his natural bounce, to collect each of New Zealand's last five wickets. South Africa were never at risk of fluffing an easy chase, with Amla at the rudder.

Less than 24 hours after Virat Kohli and India put on an exhibition in Powerplay batting, New Zealand spat up a performance at the other end of the spectrum, which derailed their innings, and effectively surrendered the match. Having overcome a tougher early period, the hosts skated to 163 for 2 in the 33rd over before unraveling dramatically. Brainless aggression from New Zealand, and superb execution in the field from South Africa, saw three wickets fall while the field was in, before two more quick strikes crushed any New Zealand hopes of a respectable total on what South Africa proved was a dream batting surface.

Kane Williamson's dismissal began the slide, but he was more the victim of terrific work from South Africa than his own folly. With mid-on and mid-off up, he attempted to loft Tsotsobe straight, but was fooled by the lack of pace and ended up launching it high in the air. He might have got away with it were it not for an outstanding backpedalling take from Jacques Kallis, who arched back and plucked the ball from two feet behind him as it hurtled down.

Brendon McCullum was next to go, after another promising half-century, picking out the fielder on the fence for the second time in as many matches, after Lonwabo Tsotsobe had invited his aerial leg-side flick with a full ball on the pads. Jesse Ryder's series failed to improve, as he too perished offering a poor stroke, to an angled Dale Steyn delivery that caught the edge as it moved across him.

Morkel scythed through the New Zealand tail after Tsotsobe and Steyn had made the incision in the middle order. He was on a hat-trick twice, with only Tim Southee's defiant 27-ball 28, breaking up his string of wickets. He finished with 5 for 38, his first five-wicket haul in ODIs.

At the end of their innings, New Zealand had lost eight wickets for 67, after Martin Guptill's 107-run partnership with McCullum had set them on track for 300.

Amla's imperious uppercut in the third over of the chase ignited a ten-ball salvo that yielded six fours, and launched South Africa's chase into a breakneck pace that did not relent until his dismissal in the 32nd over. Jacques Kallis departed early, after opening in place of an injured Graeme Smith, but Amla progressed unfazed, lacing crisp boundaries square on the off side during the mandatory Powerplay to propel the scoring rate beyond six an over, where it stayed for the entirety of the innings.

Faf du Plessis took little time to get in and match Amla's tempo, proving the trueness of the surface. The pair cavorted at close to seven an over at times, buffeting the square boundaries, but also ensuring the cover and straight fence got a pounding whenever the New Zealand bowlers over-corrected their lengths. du Plessis' departure to a clever catch from Martin Guptill, who tossed the ball to himself as he stepped over the square-leg boundary and then back in, did not slow the scoring, as JP Duminy resumed where his teammate left off and Amla cruised beyond 50.

Legspinner Tarun Nethula was the only bowler to trouble Amla, but with South Africa having made half New Zealand's target by the 20th over, the hosts had seemingly lost hope, which only compounded their woes. Nethula should have had Amla twice in one over, but the first top edge eluded fielders, while the second was shelled by Rob Nicol at long off. Jesse Ryder then frustrated Nethula further, by spilling Duminy, before Nethula caught the batsman himself, leaving nothing to his teammates who were seemingly already resigned to loss.

Nethula grew in confidence as his spell wore on, even finding turn on the rock-hard surface that Robin Peterson had earlier found difficult to bowl on. He bamboozled Amla several times before eventually having him caught behind, in sight of his tenth one-day hundred. AB de Villiers and Justin Ontong sauntered home under little pressure.

McCullum's 85 and Guptill's 58 were the only bright spots for New Zealand with the bat. Their partnership came at almost a run-a-ball as they looked to make the most of the favourable conditions. Though a spineless performance from the middle order will bear most of the blame, both set batsmen will be distraught not to have converted their half-centuries, and guided their side closer to a competitive total. New Zealand now only have pride to play for in Auckland on Saturday.