A superb century from opener Dean Elgar nullified the early advantage gained by New Zealand and highlighted the opening day’s play of the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand at the University Oval, Dunedin.
The hosts would rue the fact they let the opposition escape after the early turmoil. After winning the flip of the coin, South Africa’s skipper Faf du Plessis broke the ritual of the host nation by opting to bat first as opposed to unintended ‘bowl first’ decisions, which occurred exactly 22 times on the trot before Wednesday morning. Also, the hosts once again saw their skipper taste bad luck with the toss. The decision obviously was motivated by the brown track which Williamson described as ‘drier than usual.’
But while Du Plessis walked out happy after the toss, the decision to bat first somewhat looked bad as Trent Boult and Neil Wagner disabled their top-order completely. The start was pretty slow with the opening duo of Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar playing with a caution-first approach. However, it didn’t take long for New Zealand to draw first blood as Boult got rid of Cook. The right-hander misjudged the line of the delivery that saw him getting trapped LBW.
The visitors looked very sluggish and New Zealand was on top in the first hour. Hashim Amla consumed 28 deliveries in the middle before his fans were left dejected by Neil Wagner, who broke through his defense with the right-hander having just one run to his name.
He clearly wasn’t comfortable. Williamson did everything right to sustain the pressure on him. The first run came off his bat only after playing out 19 deliveries, including a couple of maiden overs. South Africa slumped further when Wagner had another Proteas wicket just two balls later. JP Duminy saw an unwelcoming bouncer take a nick off his bat and going straight to Ross Taylor at first slip.
The absence of Tim Southee, who was dropped for the first time since the Hyderabad Test against India in 2012, was not felt at all as Wagner filled up his place with a great return. South Africa, reduced to 22/3, had the Kiwi fast bowlers standing with an upper hand over them.
The action which unfolded in the first half of the day, soon became light as South Africa pulled themselves back into the game with a dominant fourth wicket stand between Elgar, who was dropped by BJ Watling on 36, and du Plessis- that yielded them 126 runs and effectively bailed out the visitors from what looked like a certain misery as a result of the overly defensive mindset. Both individuals looked fluent and scored boundaries whenever the opportunity arose to keep the bowlers away from gaining advantage.
The spectacular moment of the day came when Elgar and Du Plessis accounted for seven boundaries in 19 deliveries just before tea. However, the stand came to an end after the brief period brisk scoring. Du Plessis pulled Neesham unnecessarily just after completing his fifty to hand a catch to Boult, three balls after being saved by an LBW review. Neesham, who was picked ahead of Colin de Grandhomme, created opportunities straight away after being brought into the attack just an over before he struck with the vital wicket.
Temba Bavuma reminded spectators of the ultra-cautious batting, which was witnessed at the start of the day before finding his rhythm and going along the flow to end the day unbeaten on 38 with Elgar. The southpaw, who led the revival, also completed his century off 197 balls with the help of 20 boundaries just before drinks in the last session.
Brief Scores:
South Africa: 229/4 (Elgar 128; Neil Wagner 2/59) vs New Zealand