KEY POINTS:
The Black Caps tour to South Africa took another turn for the worse when it was announced yesterday that Craig Cumming had undergone an operation to repair "multiple facial fractures".
He will return home but is not fit to travel for at least a week, according to reports.
The news is no better on the pitch, though at least Chris Martin offered a glimmer of hope overnight.
He might be everybody's batting bunny but he's got a rabbit of his own at the moment.
For the third time in as many innings he cannoned a ball into South African captain Graeme Smith's stumps.
It was a tonic not only for Martin but for a beleaguered New Zealand team that fell forlornly for 187, the third time they had failed to muster 200 in the series.
Smith's first over dismissal for two gave them hope that they could mount a similar assault on South Africa's vaunted line-up, hope that was increased when Martin bamboozled Herschelle Gibbs and bowled him for 25 with the total at 31.
However Martin could only bowl from one end and as lunch approached on the second day they wouldn't have been cheered by the sight of Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, centurions in the first test, getting down to their work and looking largely untroubled as the home side reached 100 just before lunch.
Untroubled is not a word you could associate with New Zealand's fragile batting line-up.
On the opening day they were caught between calls for positivity and watchfulness.
There was no better example of that confusion than when New Zealand's best batsman on the day, Cumming, got caught in two minds in dealing with a Dale Steyn bouncer.
Last night it was announced he had undergone a successful operation in Johannesburg to repair broken bones in his face. "He was operated on last night [Saturday], and several plates were inserted into his face in the cheek and jaw area," New Zealand team manager Lindsay Crocker said.
Crocker said Cumming, who is diabetic, was kept in intensive care overnight for observation. Cumming's doctors were satisfied with his condition, Crocker said.
"He's come through it pretty well."
"He was a bit of a mess but his surgeons are happy with the work they've done."
Crocker said Cumming would stay in hospital for at least two days and that he would not be fit to travel back to New Zealand for about a week.
His plight was eerily symbolic, so calamitous has this tour been.
Without Shane Bond and Jacob Oram, captain Daniel Vettori had little option but to bat first on a Centurion pitch that already sported a crazy-paving complex. Aside from a lucky first session, what followed came as no surprise.
The Black Caps made steady, if streaky, progress in the first session, Cumming and Lou Vincent taking them to 84 for one at lunch. However, normal service was resumed thereafter and the visitors were once again on their knees when play was halted three overs into the final session by bad light and a thunderstorm.
Dale Steyn, the New Zealanders' nemesis in the first test, came back on straight after lunch and Vincent (33) was late on a pull against his fourth delivery and lobbed a catch to mid-on.
In the midst of a top-class spell of fiery fast bowling, Steyn struck Cumming in the face with a fearsome bouncer, forcing him to retire hurt, and trapped Scott Styris leg-before for three.
Stephen Fleming scored a timely 43 before cutting Kallis straight to backward point four overs before tea.
Ross Taylor (17) also fell to a cut shot, off Andre Nel, and the aggressive fast bowler had Brendon McCullum (13) caught in the slips off the last ball before tea.
Steyn returned again after the break and removed Mark Gillespie and Iain O'Brien for ducks off successive deliveries, but then contrived to send the hat-trick ball to Chris Martin way down the leg side.
Fleming said a total of 300 would have kept New Zealand in the game on another pitch featuring inconsistent bounce.
"I was surprised by how much inconsistent bounce there was. If this match goes the distance, it will be pretty tough to play on by the fifth day."
South African assistant coach Vincent Barnes revealed that Smith did not feel his team had been up to requirements in the first session, which perhaps explained their fiery comeback after lunch. "He urged the players to hit their straps. We could have had them 70 for three," Barnes said.
- NZPA