Black Caps vs South Africa: Kane Williamson's second ton has crushing victory looming

Tuesday, 6 February 2024

First test, at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui: New Zealand 511 and 179-4 (Kane Williamson 109) versus South Africa 162 (Keegan Petersen 45; Matt Henry 3-31, Mitchell Santner 3-34)

The best-case scenario for the Black Caps; the worst-case scenario for all others concerned.

That appears to be the obvious outcome from the first test against South Africa, with the hosts on track for a comprehensive victory by the end of day three in Mount Maunganui.

At stumps, New Zealand were 179-4 in their second innings, giving them a lead of 528 runs with two days to play.

Kane Williamson took the opportunity when captain Tim Southee opted not to enforce the follow-on - after dismissing South Africa for a paltry 162 - to make his second century of the test.

It was the 31st of his career, after he made 118 in his first innings, and saw him become the fifth New Zealand batsman to make centuries in both innings of a test - joining Glenn Turner, Geoff Howarth, Andrew Jones and Peter Fulton.

Kane Williamson of New Zealand on his way to his 31st test century on day three of the first test against South Africa at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.

Resuming at 80-4 - trailing New Zealand’s first-innings tally by 431 runs - the understrength visiting side lost wickets regularly to be dismissed during the second session while still trailing by 349 runs.

A reasonable smattering of sun-baked bodies on the bank at Bay Oval on Waitangi Day was an indication of the appeal of this series.

There’s a desire to see their much-admired national side perform, and perform well - Williamson’s excellence will always draw a crowd, and Rachin Ravindra’s appeal is an added boon.

But once the initial interest in whether Neil Brand’s under-resourced underdogs could force their rivals into a fair fight (Narrator’s voice: “They couldn't”), the contest had minimal appeal.

With sell-out crowds looming for Australia’s two-test visit to the Basin Reserve and Hagley Oval, New Zealand Cricket won’t be overly fretting - but it’s going to be a hard sell to entice anyone bar the should-be-committed cricket tragic to be be glued to the developments in the second test between the mismatched combatants in Hamilton starting next Tuesday.

Matt Henry of New Zealand celebrates after dismissing South Africa’s Ruan de Swardt during day three of the first test in Mount Maunganui.

A wide margin of victory for New Zealand would also reinforce the opinions of many that Cricket South Africa terribly undervalued the test game with their insistence their stars played in the domestic T20 competition, even when the scheduling clash became unavoidable.

It’s also going to be a massive task for rookie skipper Brand to lift his men for what plays out in Mount Maunganui first, and then again next week.

Still, that’s beyond the concerns of the Black Caps XI, who professionally asserted their predicted dominance.

Such was New Zealand’s utter control on the scoreboard that Southee didn’t have to fret over the follow-on decision.

When Ravindra bowled Dane Paterson to end South Africa’s first innings after only 72.5 overs, there was no ‘wrong’ option for the Black Caps skipper.

His pace bowlers would still have had enough legs to run in for the remainder of the day, then put them up overnight for what expectantly would have been a cleaning-up session on day four - Kyle Jamieson topped the overs count for the quicks with 15, one more than Matt Henry and two more than their leader.

Mitchell Santner of New Zealand takes a catch to dismiss David Bedingham of South Africa on day three of the first test.

There was also ample time for his batters to have a second dig, bat at whatever pace they felt comfortable, and still have oodles of time on the final two days to bowl out the Proteas for a second time, after a declaration had been made with a stonking lead.

In opting for the latter option, he allowed opener Devon Conway (29 from 68 balls) a second bat in the test - which wasn’t fully convincing - while Williamson struck 12 fours and a six in romping to 109 from 132 balls.

The first-innings century-maker was dropped by Edward Moore - who made the same mistake on day one which helped him reach that landmark - with an absolute goober at deep square leg, on 53.

When South Africa resumed their first innings on Tuesday morning, New Zealand soon revealed they had multiple ways of picking up wickets.

One of them was courtesy of some injudicious shot-making. Having been so disciplined and accurate with the ball, with limited resources, it was a surprise to see the tourists eschew a ‘dig in’ attitude - that may occur second time around.

Henry quickly put the Proteas on the back foot again with two early wickets before Santner’s test career revitalisation continued apace, as he took 3-34 from 21 overs in total, which included 16 overs unchanged on Tuesday.