Business Day

Proteas take aim at unbeaten Kiwi run

• Green wicket could aid quicks as Philander, Rabada and Morkel loom large in Dunedin

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SA are backing their pace attack to snap New Zealand’s unbeaten run when the first Test starts on Wednesday. After surveying a typically green New Zealand wicket, opener Dean Elgar said on Monday: “It’s something for us to try and correct.”

SA are backing their pace attack to snap New Zealand’s unbeaten run at Dunedin’s University Oval when the first Test starts on Wednesday.

After surveying a typically green New Zealand wicket and learning the Black Caps have won three, drawn four and lost none of the seven Tests on the ground, opener Dean Elgar said on Monday: “It’s something for us to try and correct.

“It looks a bit juicy,” he added of the wicket, warning that South African quicks Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel were likely to be a handful.

Philander has 32 Test wickets against New Zealand at 15.53, and Elgar expects he will again be a central figure.

“I’m glad he’s on my side and I don’t have to face him with a new ball,” Elgar said, while adding of Morkel: “I’m glad I just have to face him in the nets.”

Morkel has played little cricket since suffering a back injury four months ago but is still set to figure in the South African line-up alongside Philander and the impressive Kagiso Rabada.

SA go into the Test series after beating New Zealand 3-2 in the recent one-day internatio­nal series, where Rabada topped their bowling figures.

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson believes his batsmen will need “real courage and skill” to handle Rabada, who bowls at speeds of more than 140km/h.

“He has an easy action, so he can sustain that for long spells. He has a quick bumper and he can swing it. It’s a pretty good package,” Hesson said.

“They’ve got a number of different options whether they want bounce or seam and Vernon Philander in New Zealand conditions has been exceptiona­l. He will be a big challenge for us as well.”

There is a look of fragility in the New Zealand batting line-up, with opener Tom Latham having a horror run in the three ODIs he played against SA and Henry Nicholls struggling at No 5 apart from a 53 and 98 against Bangladesh in January.

Hesson said there was pressure on the whole side.

“SA in a Test series is tough, whether it’s here or away,” he said. “Our record against SA, and anyone’s record against SA in the last four or five years, suggests it is going to be very tough, and we’re expecting that.”

SA have played at University Oval once before, five years ago, when Philander and Morkel took six wickets between them in New Zealand’s first innings.

The match ended in a draw when rain washed out the final day with New Zealand 137/2 and needing 264 more to win.

From that 2012 Test, only Philander, Morkel and Hashim Amla return for SA, while then captain Ross Taylor and now skipper Kane Williamson play for New Zealand with the newball pair of Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Southee and Boult made little impact in the 2012 match but dominated the last Test at University Oval, taking 10 wickets between them when New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 122 runs two years ago.

 ?? /Lee Warren/Gallo Images ?? On the right side: Proteas opener Dean Elgar has identified Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel as among the main threats to New Zealand in the first Test.
/Lee Warren/Gallo Images On the right side: Proteas opener Dean Elgar has identified Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel as among the main threats to New Zealand in the first Test.

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