South Africa 220 for 6 (de Swardt 55*, Bedingham 39, Ravindra 3-33)
vs New Zealand
On a fairly attritional day of Test cricket, Ruan de Swardt and Shaun von Berg pushed deep to help South Africa recover. New Zealand’s seamers were frugal and effective in removing top-order hitters. Rachin Ravindra got purchase and destroyed the middle order, but numbers 7 and 8 held strong and saw off 27 overs in the prolonged final session.
The day began with captain Neil Brand surprising everyone at the toss by batting first on a grassy pitch with two spinners. “All the wickets have been green and it tends to burn off after a couple of days,” he went on to say. South Africa, repeating their achievement from 2017, is the only team to have done so in Hamilton in the previous 10 years.
In contrast, New Zealand fielded four seamers, including skipper Tim Southee, who stated that he would have bowled first if they had won the toss. The hosts replaced Daryl Mitchell, who was injured, with Will Young. Neil Wagner replaced Mitchell Santner, while William O’Rourke made his debut when Kyle Jamieson returned sore from the first Test.
Clyde Fortuin’s elevation to the top did not pay off, as he scored a golden duck. He flashed up against Matt Henry, and Glenn Phillips delivered a one-handed stunner to gully. Henry worried the batsmen with seam movement, and Southee found swing, but Brand and Raynard van Tonder left the ball comfortably, unconcerned about the ball occasionally beating them.
Brand took advantage of overpitched balls by landing visually attractive punches through the offside. O’Rourke, the rookie introduced in the ninth over, was on the receiving end a few of occasions, but he got a length ball to sneak back past the inside edge and pin the skipper in front of the middle.
Zubayr Hamza began cautiously and was caught lbw after he shouldered arms to a length ball angled in Neil Wagner’s opening over. Hamza reviewed successfully, with ball tracking indicating that it would clear the stumps.
Hamza defended valiantly but was unable to rotate his attack. Southee and Wagner maintained their discipline, conceding only five runs between the 21st and 25th over. Wagner then telegraphed the short-ball strategy by placing the fielders deep on the leg side. He hit the deck, aimed it outside, and received a spongy bounce off the pitch, but van Tonder was unable to ride the bounce and ended up deflecting it to Tom Latham at gully. The third wicket swung the session in the hosts’ advantage.
The second session was reminiscent of a psychological experiment, with David Bedingham and Hamza ready to blunt the bowling despite the fact that the runs had stopped. Henry and O’Rourke maintained their lines and lengths, while Ravindra, who came on in the 36th over, began his spell with four maidens.
The ball occasionally beat the bat, and shots that were middled went directly to the fielders. South Africa scored 12 runs between overs 31 and 44, for a total of 33 runs in 154 balls.
However, two overs later, Hamza’s patience was shattered, as was Ravindra’s loopy wide delivery, as he holed out to backward point for 99 off 20 balls. Ravindra then added to Keegan Petersen’s bad run of form by having him push out at a length ball and catch at slip.
From then until tea, it was a question of dots or boundaries, but de Swardt’s proactivity, followed by good defence, was a rare bright spot for South Africa in an otherwise dismal session.
On the other end, Bedingham was confident and even capitalized on a few of rare times where Ravindra fell short. The action-packed 62nd over propelled South Africa to 150, gave Bedingham two fours, and finished with his bizarre dismissal. He flicked a full ball seemingly onto the ground and directly into Young’s hands at short leg. Young tossed the ball to the goalkeeper, who removed the bails. The umpire sent an appeal for run out upstairs, but a spin-vision review revealed that the ball never reached the ground and instead went to Young off Bedingham’s boot. Bedingham had to walk back after another start.
Von Berg, the fifth-oldest player to make a Test debut for South Africa, began his innings cautiously. He attempted a couple of fast singles to get off the mark but was put back. He survived a tight lbw call off Wagner in the 68th over, when the third umpire believed the ball struck both bat and pad at the same time.
He eventually gained confidence, sending a couple of short balls from O’Rourke to the boundary and settling in as the soft, old ball lost its sting. De Swardt, on the other end, remained stable.
New Zealand grabbed the new ball just after the 80th over. Southee coaxed an edge from von Berg, but the ball flew past the slip cordon for four, bringing South Africa to 200. Southee and Henry were caught for boundaries on rare occasions when they went too full, but they usually hit a respectable length.
Southee struck von Berg’spad with no shot available in the 85th over. It was not given out, and the skipper had to fire a review after Hawk-Eye revealed that the ball would easily clear the stumps. In his following over, Southee struck de Swardt in the box. The batter was down, but it was the last blow South Africa would get for the rest of the day.
The green on the pitch had lightened dramatically by the end of the day. The visitors will be pleased that their inexperienced lineup recovered despite having their resistance undermined. However, the hosts kept the score low and will be happy that spinners have taken wickets at home in straight Tests.
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