NZ on brink of test victory

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 on Wednesday at Seddon Park 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 for the encounter through injury – seal victory on Wednesday, 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 Tuesday 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.

‘‘But 162 overs is a long time to be in the field. To bat on the back of that is always going to be difficult.

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.

‘‘Once they got ahead of us by 100 runs it was always going to be a survival match.

‘‘But we’ve had those matches before – we’ve had quite a few of them and we will draw on those experiences tomorrow 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.’’

With the quick-scoring de Kock at the crease, runs will also be invaluable as well as surviving time and overs.

‘‘We look for him to score – if he goes into a defensive mode it’s probably the worst thing for him.

‘‘We won’t just stonewall it and go totally defensive – if we bat 50 or 60 overs tomorrow, we will be ahead.’’ 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.

‘‘I think it’s a pretty important partnership we need to break between Faf and de Kock,’’ Patel said. Scoreboard: SOUTH AFRICA First innings 314 NEW ZEALAND

First innings T Latham c de Kock b Morkel ... 50 J Raval c de Kock b Morkel ....... 88 K Williamson c Philander b Morkel ......................................... 176 N Broom lbw Rabada .................. 12 H Nicholls c de Kock b Rabada ... 0 M Santner c Duminy b Rabada . 41 B Watling b Maharaj .................. 24 C de Grandhomme c de Kock b Morkel ........................................... 57 M Henry c Elgar b Maharaj ....... 12 J Patel c de Kock b Rabada .......... 5 N Wagner not out .......................... 0 Extras (12lb, 5w, 7nb) ............. 24 Total (all out, 162.1 overs) ... 489 Fall: 83 273, 293 , 293 , 381, 397, 443 , 477 , 489 , 489 .

Bowling: V Philader 33-7-79-0 (2nb), M Morkel 36.1-7-100-4, K Rabada 34-3-122-4 (1nb, 1w), K Maharaj 50-8-118-2, JP Duminy 6-0-38-0, D Elgar 1-0-13-0, T Bavuma 2-0-7-0. SOUTH AFRICA Second innings D Elgar c Watling b de Grandhomme ................................. 5 T de Bruyn run out ..................... 12 H Amla c de Grandhomme b Patel .......................................................... 19 JP Duminy b Patel ...................... 13 F du Plessis not out ..................... 15 T Bavuma c Watling b Henry ...... 1 Q de Kock not out ........................ 15 Extras ......................................... 0 Total (for 5 wkts, 39 overs) .... 80 Fall: 13 , 25 , 49, 50 , 59 . Bowling: M Henry 11-4-20-1, C de Grandhomme 8-5-15-1, N Wagner 5-0-16-0, J Patel 12-2-22-2, M Santner 3-0-7-0.