Black Caps on the brink but . . .
The Black Caps are in pole position to score a remarkable serieslevelling test cricket victory.
Yet you sense there could still be another twist in the tail of this hard-fought three-match contest.
At stumps on the penultimate day of the final test in Hamilton, New Zealand have South Africa 80-5, with the tourists still 95 runs behind NZ’s first innings tally with only five wickets remaining.
New Zealand’s major obstacles on the final day at Seddon Park today will be the Proteas’ renowned fighting spirit, an extremely capable middle/lower order batting lineup and a weather forecast that has been wildly inaccurate so far this test but shows the possibility of rain in the afternoon.
Should the Black Caps – without three of their star players – seal victory today, it would be their first win against the Proteas since March 2004, when they triumphed by nine wickets in Auckland. Since then, New Zealand has lost 10 times and drawn five matches against South Africa.
South Africa’s assistant coach Adrian Birrell admitted yesterday was a bad day – featuring a calamitous run out of debutant opener Theunis de Bruyn – but predicts the tourists are still capable of salvaging a draw and a series win.
New Zealand put the foot on the throat after establishing a lead of 175 by scoring 489 in their first innings, with skipper Kane Williamson making 176.
‘‘They batted very well, we toiled – I don’t think we bowled badly, the guys stuck at it,’’ Birrell said. ‘‘We said all the right things but unfortunately we didn’t get a good start and at 80-5 we’ve got a mountain to climb.’’
South Africa will be batting for a draw, but Birrell doesn’t want the not out duo of skipper Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock to go into their shells.
’’We’ve had those matches before – we’ve had quite a few of them and we will draw on those experiences and we’ll fight.
‘‘We’ve got a captain there that’s very determined and he’s fought before and that’s what we’re speaking about in the changing room – we haven’t lost the match yet. We’ve got two in-form batsman there, we’ve got Vernon [Philander], who’s capable of a test hundred – we all say to him he’s going to get one, tomorrow will be a good day for that.’’
Black Caps off-spinner Jeetan Patel grabbed two wickets in the final session, but felt one more would have made the day complete for the hosts.
‘‘It’s a pretty important partnership we need to break between Faf and de Kock,’’ Patel said.
‘‘We know they can grind us down and also score at a rate that will make it difficult if we need to chase anything at the back end.’’