South Africa tour of New Zealand 2022 News

It’s only day two of the 2nd Test match at Wellington and South Africa are already within range of an unlikely win against the Kiwis. Pacers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen’s combined effort on a gloomy day at Wellington have led to the hosts losing five wickets for 157 runs trailing South Africa’s first innings total by 207 runs. The visitors might seem to be in a great position right now, but it was not the case in the first session of the day as Matt Henry and Neil Wagner put in all their experience to skittle the opposition for 384 runs after they were 200/3 yesterday. Overcast conditions offered seam movement throughout the day and New Zealand’s discipline with the ball did the rest. Five wickets fell between 98 to 120 with players like Kyle Verreynne, Temba Bavuma and Wiaan Mulder leaving the crease sooner than expected. At a point it looked like SA could definitely go well beyond 400, but after the collapse it was just a matter of time before they got skittled out. Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj however had other plans and put on a 62 run partnership to rescue the innings for the visitors. Jansen stayed not out at 37 off 51 while Maharaj added 36 off 50. Coming into bowl, South Africa utilised the half an hour left before tea and removed both openers within the first five overs. Marco Jansen joined the party to undo the next in order Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls. The credit for Conway’s wicket though goes to Rabada who created a considerable amount of pressure on the left hander making his life awfully uncomfortable in the middle. With four wickets down, NZ were staring at a collapse but a counter attacking innings from Colin de Grandhomme stopped it from happening. He picked on Mulder and Lutho Simpala and rode his luck through 54* off 61 balls. Alongside him, he had the support of Daryl Mitchell who remained not out at 29. The third day is going to be crucial for the visitors who might not get as much help from the deck as they got today. With no rainfall predicted on Day 3, it could play well into the hands of the home side who would be desperate to look for an escape and maintain their five year supremacy over the Rainbow Nation at their own home conditions. De Grandhomme will look to continue from where he left off while South Africa pacers will like to talk amongst themselves and bowl tighter lines next day. NZ are still 207 runs behind, but another blitzkrieg from Mitchell or Grandhomme could easily take the game away from them.

South Africa made a good turnaround on Day 1 of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch after suffering a thumping defeat in the first encounter earlier. Batting first, the Proteas got off to an impressive start with openers Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee putting up a partnership of 111 runs for the first wicket. Elgar was removed by Tim Southee for 41 while Erwee continued with his form and notched up a century during the course eventually. He was joined by Aiden Markram and the two batters then stitched a stand of 88 runs for the second wicket. The visitors then lost a couple of wickets in quick succession with both Markram and Erwee being sent back in the hut. While Markram was out for 42, Erweek scored 108. South Africa were 238/3 with Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen unbeaten at the crease. Tim Southee, Matt Henry and Neil Wagner scalped a wicket each for the New Zealand.

Lungi Ngidi, who also missed the first Test that saw South Africa losing the match by an innings and 276 runs, has been ruled out of the upcoming Test against New Zealand due to back-strain.

New Zealand created history on Saturday after beating South Africa by an innings and 276 runs in the first Test of the two-match series in Christchurch. After taking a mammoth lead in the first innings, the Blackcaps bundled out the Proteas for 111 in the second innings to clinch a thumping victory. The visitors had a dismal start to the proceedings as they lost early wickets and were left tottering at 46/5 when Temba Bavuma and Kyle Verreynne tried to chip in with a few runs. The two batters stitched a stand of 41 runs for the sixth wicket before Bavuma was trapped in front of the stumps by Wagner for 41 to provide the breakthrough. The South African team never really got into the game and were eventually bowled out. Verreynne scored 30 during the course. For New Zealand, it was Tim Southee in the second innings who bagged a five-wicket haul while Matt Henry and Wagner scalped a couple apiece. Kyle Jamieson returned with figures of 1/24. Earlier, the home side rode on some exceptional batting display to post 482 runs on the board. While Henry Nicholls struck a century, Tom Blundell missed out on getting one by just four runs as he was out for 96. Wagner (49) and de Grandhomme (45) also made some valuable contributions for the host. South Africa who batted first in the first innings, were all out for 95 after Henry picked up seven wickets. "It's not in South Africa's nature to roll over, had some work ahead of us. Just a clinical three days from everyone. Different guys stepping up at different times. It's the way we want to play, and we have played in New Zealand for a long time," Southee said after the match.

The writing is on the wall for the Proteas in the first Test match in Christchurch after they were thoroughly outplayed on Day 2 on Friday, 18 February. Henry Nicholls’ century along with two half centuries from Tom Blundell and Matt Henry set the hosts for a big on before they returned to pick three quick wickets in the South African batting order. The Proteas were dominated from the first session itself with nightwatchman Neil Wagner starting on a very aggressive note. He hit 7 boundaries and 2 sixes and fell just one run shy of the half century mark. He added 80 runs with Henry Nicholls and set the tone for the rest of the day. New Zealand’s batting efforts were aided by uncharacteristically poor fielding efforts by South Africa who leaked boundaries every now and then. Later in the day Mark Boucher pointed out the same and stated that the energy levels of the visitors were below par. While he did not point out what could be the reason behind the same, one can safely assume that the 10-day hard quarantine might have something to do with it. NZ’s domination with the bat meant that Nicholls 105 runs off 164 balls before getting out and two significant contributions from Blundell (96 off 138) and Henry (58 off 68) secured a huge first innings total for the home side. The last wicket partnership between the two of them saw 94 runs being added before Blundell feather edged one to the keeper. Returning to bowl, Matt Henry and Tim Southee once again showed mastery over their home conditions. One after the other South Africa batsmen once again departed from the middle, with the score being 4/3 inside the first 5 overs. Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma arrested the flow of wickets and at the end of day’s play the visitors were struggling at 34/3 after playing 9 overs. South Africa are strongly placed in the Test match and it is very likely that they will finish the job on moving day tomorrow.

South Africa were skittled out for just 95 runs on Day 1 of their first Test match against South Africa after Matt Henry ran riot through the Proteas batting line-up on a lush green deck. Returning into the Test team in the absence of Trent Boult who is on paternity leave, Henry entertained his home crowd in Christchurch with an exceptional display of swing on control. The right arm fast bowler maintained a relentless off stump line troubling most right handers with his ability to swing the ball away from them. It meant that the right hand dominant South Africa line-up just could not put up a fight with Henry and gave him 7 wickets off his 15 overs. SA could not survive the full 50 overs in Day 1, and were all out for 95 with Zubayr Hamza top scoring at 25 runs. Forced to bowl, the visitors started off very well with Glenton Stuurman and Marco Jansen bowling in tandem. The produced falls shots from the Kiwi line-up, but poor catching on the day stopped them from capitalising on the chances. At the end of Day 1, NZ lost their top three wickets for 116 runs. While openers Tom Latham and Will Young got out cheaply, Devon Conway chopped one on late in the day off Duanne Olivier to register the third wicket for the home side. At stumps, New Zealand had Henry Nicholls and Neil Wagner in the middle.