NZ toss away their advantage
Kane Williamson had a South African to thank after the New Zealand captain’s call at the toss inadvertently allowed the grateful Proteas to assume control of the series-deciding second test at Centurion.
Had Pretoria-born Neil Wagner not enjoyed a relatively happy homecoming to the ground where he watched cricket growing up, Williamson would have had even more cause to second-guess his decision to bowl first and essentially cede the advantage to counterpart Faf du Plessis on Saturday.
At the close of a day of missed opportunities for the Black Caps at Supersport Park, South Africa were 283-3 and well set to bat New Zealand out of the contest.
Wagner at least denied volunteer opener Quinton de Kock his second test century and, more importantly, he prevented Hashim Amla amassing another significant score against the Kiwis.
Using his preferred method of short-pitched aggression, Wagner coaxed de Kock to pull straight to Trent Boult just inside the long leg boundary for a belligerent 15-boundary 82; the earnest leftarmer then drew Amla into a rare false when the Proteas leading strokemaker had made 1000 career runs against the Kiwis, and an effortless 58.
Doug Bracewell, Boult and Tim Southee also caused the South Africans anxiety from time with swing and seam movement but the trio were unable to make inroads with the second new ball as the shadows lengthened.
Wagner took an optimistic approach when saying he felt the test was ‘‘obviously still fairly evenly poised’’.
‘‘A long tough day, but we’ve got to be positive tomorrow; come back and fight really hard and look to change it around.
‘‘There’s still a lot of assistance in the wicket, a bit of movement still around.
‘‘I think we didn’t really start too well with the ball and then later on started bowling better. We didn’t always do the things we say we’re going to do [like] bowl in partnerships for long periods of time.’’
Williamson’s debatable option was compounded by the Black Caps being figuratively outplayed in regard to the decision review system.
Twice, when opener Stephen Cook was 36 runs into his 56 and JP Duminy was on 20, did they decline to challenge English umpire Ian Gould’s judgment to turn down lbw appeals where both deliveries were crashing into leg stump.
Amla and Duminy, meanwhile, wisely reviewed their initial lbw dismissals - by Gould - when on 17 and 44 respectively.
Although the pitch had a greenish tinge that will brown off as the contest unfolds, a lack of cloud cover soon cast a shadow over Williamson’s call to bowl rather than set a target against the formidable new ball attack of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.
Ominously for New Zealand, South Africa has only lost two of 21 tests at Centurion - and won 16 while the team batting first has emerged victorious in the last four encounters at Supersport Park.