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New Zealand batting comes croppers; SA in command

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Kiwis squandered the advantage of bowling out SA for 226 on the first day by getting bundled out for a paltry 118 in their first innings. South Africa have grabbed the opportunity to get themselves into the driver’s seat of this first Test by putting up a solid 179 for 2 taking an overall lead of 287 at stumps on the second day’s play. Hashim Amla has finished with an unbeaten 85 while Kallis is also unbeaten with a good score of 76.

All the Kiwi batsmen found the pitch and the South African fast bowling too hot to handle. Only Stephen Fleming could put some sort of a fight but then could survive just 48 balls while making 40 runs with the help of 5 fours and a six. The next highest score came from debutant Ross Taylor, who made 15.

Dale Steyn took a fifer, finishing with mean figures of 5 for 34 in just 14.3 overs. His new ball partner Makhaya Ntini got 3 for 47 while Kallis took just the 4 overs to take a couple of wickets. In their second innings, SA lost Gibbs and Smith for hardly anything on the board but soon found the stability and the resistance in the form of Amla and Kallis. Amla was dropped when he was on 2 by Brendon McCullum and that was enough for the batsman to make the opposition pay. The rest of the day saw New Zealand giving it up with the lead growing all the time for the Proteas.