Test a meeting of two mindsets

NEW Zealand, in the words of fast bowler Trent Boult yesterday, find it exciting that their test series in South Africa will come down to a shootout at the Centurion corral.

After the rain-ruined first test at Kingsmead, their coach Mike Hesson was also excited at the prospect of a winner-take-all game.

But, for SA captain Faf du Plessis, it was disappointing to have series honours on the line in one match.

Does this difference between the teams tell us which of them will be hungrier to win tomorrow?

Perhaps, just as it suggests which of them have more confidence in their current form.

Before the Kingsmead match, SA had won only one of their previous 10 tests. New Zealand had been victorious in five of their last 10 games.

New Zealand are No 5 in the rankings and SA have dwindled to seventh. A draw in Centurion would see the teams hold those positions, as would a New Zealand victory. Should SA win, they will rise to sixth.

But even though SA had New Zealand in early trouble on 15/2 when the weather ended proceedings in

Durban, it would not have helped the home side’s self-belief that they had been bowled out for 263.

And there is more at stake in Centurion than the obvious. New Zealand have never won a test series against SA, home or away. SA have won all but three of the 13 rubbers the sides have contested since 1932.

Those are powerful incentives, but another failure for SA will hit them harder than would be the case among the New Zealanders if SA won.