Kane Williamson‘s measured fourth-innings century made it all quite comfortable for New Zealand as they pulled off a record chase – the highest at Hamilton’s Seddon Park – to complete their first Test series win over South Africa, a 2-0 sweep.
For Kane Williamson, the unbeaten 133 in Hamilton means he now has seven centuries in seven Tests – he missed out in Dhaka late last year but made up for it with back-to-back hundreds in the first Test against South Africa in Mount Maunganui. On Friday, alongside Will Young, who scored 60 not out, Williamson put on an unbroken 152-run stand for the fourth wicket to take New Zealand home with seven wickets in hand.
It was a classic Kane Williamson innings, where he was challenged by the variable bounce and turn on the surface, but remained unfazed and went about his business calmly.
Pitch and Toss
After a convincing win in the opening Test of the series, New Zealand were set to take on South Africa in the 2nd Test of the ongoing two-match series at Seddon Park in Hamilton on February 13 (Tuesday). South Africa were low on confidence after their drubbing in the first Test and it looked unlikely that they could make a comeback.
Stats suggested that pacers enjoy bowling at Seddon Park. Barring Daniel Vettori, there’s no other spinner in the top ten leading wicket-takers at the venue. The wicket at the venue is conducive to pace bowling and will behave in the same manner in all likelihood. Batters will have to be cautious of their approach at the start of their innings and the pitch will ease out as the game progresses.
South Africa won the toss and chose to bat on Tuesday as they chase a series-levelling win over New Zealand in the second and final Test in Hamilton. The tourists made two changes to the side which featured six debutants in the first Test. Leg-spinning all-rounder Shaun von Berg made his debut at the age of 37 while offspinner Dane Piedt was recalled for his 10th Test. They replaced opening batter Edward Moore and seamer Duanne Olivier, with wicketkeeper Clyde Fortuin promoted to the top of the batting order.
New Zealand unveiled three changes, including a debut for 22-year-old pace bowler Will O’Rourke. O’Rourke and veteran seamer Neil Wagner came in for Mitchell Santner and Kyle Jamieson, who took 12 wickets between them in the first Test. Will Young replaced batter Daryl Mitchell, who was ruled out with a foot injury.
Day 1 : De Swardt resists after Rachin Ravindra’s triple strike
A fighting half-century from Ruan de Swardt revived South Africa on the opening day of the second Test against New Zealand after Rachin Ravindra’s triple strike put them in trouble. The visitors came up with a shoddy batting performance yet again and were reeling at 101/5 at one stage before going into stumps at 220/6.
Opting to bat first, South Africa made a poor start when Clyde Fortuin drove away from his body first ball, only to get an edge as Glenn Phillips took a stunning one-handed catch. That didn’t deter Raynard van Tonder from driving his first ball for a boundary to get going. After a brief resistance, South Africa lost skipper Neil Brand as the debutant William O’Rourke managed to pick up his first wicket in just his third over.
While the likes of Van Tonder and Zubayr Hamza got starts, they failed to capitalize and put up a substantial score. Van Tonder chased a wide short delivery from Neil Wagner to hand a catch to the fielder at gully whereas Hamza became Ravindra’s first victim. The left-arm spinner began his spell with four straight maiden overs and conceded only a single in his next over before opening his account. Keegan Petersen failed to get his eye in as he edged Ravindra behind to the slip fielder that reduced the visitors to 101/5.
A 49-run stand between de Swardt and David Bedingham kept South Africa afloat for a while. But Ravindra got the huge wicket of Bedingham, who had already smashed two fours in the over, only to get a bit unlucky as he jammed a yorker length delivery from the spinner straight to the short leg fielder. However, any hopes of running through the lower order were squashed as de Swardt held firm at one end. He had Shaun von Berg for company at the other end as the duo batted through the rest of the day.
Ravindra’s return to the bowling crease couldn’t break the partnership either as New Zealand wasted no time in taking the second new ball. While Tim Southee found the outside edge immediately, the ball flew for a boundary before de Swardt brought up his fifty with a drive through the covers. South Africa will now heavily rely on this pair to drag them past 300 on the second day.
Day 2 : Dane Piedt’s career -best haul helps South Africa storm back into the contest
When Dane Piedt last played Test cricket for South Africa, at Ranchi in 2019, he was taken apart for over 100 runs in just 18 overs. That performance against a marauding Rohit Sharma seemed to ring the death knell on his career. Yet, more than four years later, in conditions far less conducive to spin, the 33-year-old offspinner came back with a defining performance. Piedt’s career-best 5 for 89 on the second day of the Hamilton Test gave the visitors an unlikely 31-run first-innings lead.
Such a thought seemed far-fetched at the start of the day’s play as the Proteas seemed destined to concede their first-ever series to New Zealand after losing four wickets for just 22 runs in the morning session to fold for 242. Shaun von Berg, who displayed admirable resistance on the opening day, fell to the first ball from William O’Rourke to hasten the end of the first-innings. O’Rourke added the wickets of half-centurion Ruan de Swardt and Dane Paterson off successive deliveries to finish with a four-fer on debut.
But South Africa were unwilling to surrender the initiative to their hosts. Off just the fourth ball of the innings, Paterson produced a stunning delivery that came in with the angle and straightened after pitching to find Devon Conway’s outside edge. Both Paterson and Tshepo Moreki continued to produce an excellent burst going into Lunch, which while unrewarding in the wickets column, kept the Black Caps down to just 27 runs from 16 overs of play.
In Kane Williamson and Tom Latham, New Zealand had enough experience to wade out of all the early South African pressure and the batting pair did just that in a 75-run stand for the second wicket that began sedately but slowly grew in confidence. Half way through the second session of play, the signs were ominous for South Africa. But the drinks break brought both respite and rewards.
Straight after the short break, Piedt produced a classical off-spinner’s dismissal when he got a ball to drift into the left-handed Latham. It pitched on a full length but the batter misjudged it and stayed rooted to his crease, allowing it to pitch, break away and hit the top of off. Two overs later, he dismissed Kane Williamson with one that jumped up on the former captain and the ensuing bat-pad was taken by the fielder at forward short leg. Both set batters were dismissed in the 40s.
Will Young and Rachin Ravindra then got together for a brisk partnership, combining to add 59 runs but once again South Africa were able to nip the danger in the bud. After beating Ravindra multiple times with the angle across him, Moreki managed to draw an inside edge onto the stumps from the left-hander. By Drinks in the final session, New Zealand were six down as Paterson castled Tom Blundell while Piedt returned to take out Glenn Philipps via another bat-pad.
Young, who had eased himself to 36, then displayed a lack of patience as he charged out to hit the off-spinner but was beaten in the air and mistimed the ball to long-on. When Tim Southee fell to the short-ball ploy from Paterson, New Zealand had lost 5 wickets for 25 runs. Neil Wagner cut into the deficit by slamming two sixes and three fours in a 27-ball knock for 33 but he became the Piedt’s fifth scalp as he charged out and missed the ball and was dismissed stumped, leaving the visitors in the ascendancy after two innings of the Test match.
Day 3 : Bedingham ton, O’Rourke five-fer set up engrossing finish in Hamilton
A day of firsts set up an enthralling finish to the Hamilton Test between New Zealand and South Africa. Looking to keep alive a proud record of never having lost a Test series to their hosts, the Proteas found a new batting hero in David Bedingham, who scored his maiden Test century.
While his impressive 110 gave the visitors a sizeable lead, debutant William O’Rourke claimed a five-fer to drag his side back and keep the match in the balance. Set to chase 267 to seal a historic series win, New Zealand were 40/1 at Stumps on Day 3 with Dane Piedt adding the scalp of Devon Conway to his five-wicket haul in the first innings.
South Africa started the day in the ascendancy having bagged a 31-run first-innings and ended the day slightly ahead with New Zealand needing to score a further 227 runs on a track aiding substantial turn. They didn’t make the best of beginnings to the day’s play, however.
Their openers, Clyde Fortuin and Neil Brand, went through the first 10 overs unscathed but the former endured a more scratchy stay in the middle and was eventually dismissed after overbalancing with an attempted paddle sweep and wearing a straight-ish delivery from Rachin Ravindra on his pads. O’ Rourke was introduced immediately after the early breakthrough and struck in his second over with a short ball that Raynard van Tonder looked to take on but only managed to top-edge it to the fine-leg fielder.
Brand pulled and drove O’Rourke for boundaries but the young bowler had the last laugh by getting a delivery to nip back in from a good length to find the South African captain’s inside edge on its way to the ‘keeper. Brand made 34 of South Africa’s first 39 runs but with an overall lead of 70, there was a lot of work ahead of the new batter, Bedingham.
South Africa’s No.5 raced off the blocks, hitting four fours and a six to score 34 from his first 36 deliveries before Lunch. The tap was opened in a three-over spell when the two spinners, Ravindra and Glenn Phillips, conceded 30 runs.
Bedingham continued in a similar vein post the interval, cutting Tim Southee for an early boundary. Another four came off O’Rourke before the 65-run fourth-wicket stand was ended with the dismissal of Hamza. New Zealand took 36 overs before introducing Neil Wagner into the attack and the left-arm seamer struck with just his fifth delivery with one of his patented short balls that Hamza looked to take on but holed out to deep square leg.
South Africa persisted with the short ball theory but it didn’t pay any further dividends with Bedingham, in particular, handling it without any trouble. A punched four through the cordon on the off-side and a back-away pull for a six over mid-wicket set the tone in that matchup. From the other end, Ravindra was unable to offer Tim Southee any control either with both Bedingham and Keegan Peterson hitting him for boundaries and forcing the New Zealand captain to bring in Phillips, who went for boundaries too.
Peterson played an excellent support hand in the 98-run stand and at 202/4 with the lead edging towards 250, New Zealand were up against it. Then a moment of fielding brilliance early in the final session turned the game on its head once more. Peterson, batting on 43, cut a short ball from Matt Henry uppishly and a diving Phillips plucked out a blinder at gully to give the hosts a much-needed opening.
It was all they needed to claw their way back into the contest. Bedingham completed his maiden Test century off 127 balls in the following over but straight after that was another wicket as Phillips castled Ruan de Swardt. O’Rourke then returned to dismiss the centurion, who too cut a short ball uppishly towards gully where Phillips held on to a relatively easier catch.
Phillips dismissed Dane Piedt for a second wicket before O’Rourke knocked over two more in his 14th over to complete a five-fer. From a position of control, the visitors had lost 6 for 33 to set up an enthralling finale.
Day 4 : Majestic Kane Williamson ton leads New Zealand to their 1st ever Test series win over South Africa
Another majestic century from Kane Williamson, his 32nd in Test cricket, powered New Zealand to a historic series win against South Africa. In 92 years, this was New Zealand’s first ever series win over South Africa in Test cricket as they chased down 267 on the fourth day in Hamilton.
The hosts began the day needing 227 for victory. South Africa, playing with an inexperienced squad, put up a brave fight to drag the game this far and even entertained hopes of a stunning win. An early wicket at the start of the day’s play only enhanced those chances as Dane Piedt removed Tom Latham. But Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson stood firm for a brief period to ensure New Zealand didn’t collapse under pressure.
Quite interestingly, it was Kane Williamson who was taking the lead ahead of Ravindra in the partnership. He lofted Piedt over mid on for a six and punched one through backward point for a boundary off the next over as the runs kept coming. South Africa were still hopeful though with the variable bounce on the surface posing problems every now and then. Piedt eventually struck again as he was rewarded for his patience. Ravindra, who had gotten himself into a shell, chipped one in tame fashion to short cover like Latham did earlier in the day.
At that point in time, South Africa needed one more wicket to rubber-stamp their authority and put the hosts under pressure. However, Kane Williamson and Will Young just didn’t give the visitors that opportunity to have a crack at the lower middle order. Once again it was Kane Williamson who played the dominant role in the stand as he hit three boundaries in the space of eight deliveries at one point. Young, who was content playing second fiddle, was given out at one point for caught behind but the batter managed to reverse the decision.
Williamson at the other end continued to deal in boundaries and went into the Tea break eight short of his ton. From thereon, South Africa needed to inflict a collapse similar to the one they suffered in their second innings. Unfortunately for the visitors, that just didn’t happen as New Zealand continued to march on.
Kane Williamson brought up his century in due course and took a backseat. Kane Williamson got to his 32nd Test century – he has now converted each of his last eight 50-plus scores Young finally opened up with victory in sight and went on a boundary-hitting spree to erase any slim hopes the visitors had as he helped himself to an unbeaten half-century.
Kane Williamson smashed a boundary as New Zealand achieved First-ever series victory for over South Africa in Test cricket! The on-air commentators mentioned that it has taken them 92 years and 18 attempts to achieve the series win for the Blackcaps.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Debutant quick Will O’ Rourke was named the Player of the Match for his nine wickets in the Test, while Kane Williamson took back the Player of the series award for his 403 runs across two Tests.
A clinical show from New Zealand as they clinch the series 2-0 and create history! Kane Williamson was once again as solid as a rock for them and Rachin Ravindra is creating a reputation of his own! O’Rourke was impressive on his debut. Once South Africa sent across a highly inexperienced second string squad to the New Zealand shores, they were written off even before they stepped on to the field.
They were off-color in the first Test but showed sparks of brilliance in the second Test. Bedingham is a fine prospect for them while Piedt showed that he has still got what it takes to succeed at the highest level.
There will be plenty of takeaways for South Africa, despite having lost the series. Bendingham’s returns would have definitely pleased them, while Piedt, playing his first Test since October 2019, picked up eight wickets at Hamilton. There might be a sinking feeling of what if, given the strong positions they found themselves in at Seddon Park but this bunch of cricketers will certainly benefit from this experience, and will now know what it takes to win Tests away from home.
New Zealand, on the other hand, will be delighted with the result. They were not at their absolute best across the series but they have gotten the job done, even extending their lead at the top of the WTC points table. Their next assignment Against second-placed Australia, starting February 29, and things are now set up beautifully.