Cricket: South African win worth celebrating

By Richard Boock

WELLINGTON - It's like Groundhog Day here. Every morning you wake up and find the New Zealand cricketers at death's door. It's been going on for weeks now and if it rains today, I might kill myself again.

South Africa have been hammering the Kiwis at every turn for every day of this Bank of New Zealand test series, but this morning - after effectively a 14-day blitzkrieg - they finally look like putting them out of their misery.

It might be of no great consolation to New Zealand, who have fought bravely and persistently throughout the series, but to everyone else involved in this campaign it will be a great moment just to see someone - anyone - win a match.

South Africa should achieve that distinction today when New Zealand resume their second innings on the final day of the third test at the Basin Reserve at 217 for seven and still 59 runs short of making the opposition bat again.

It might have been even worse if the Proteas had not contributed to Nathan Astle's defiant 62 by dropping him four times before he had reached 28, as well as letting Gary Stead off the hook early in his innings and dropping Dion Nash just before stumps.

A salient, albeit slightly unpalatable, point is that the South Africans - who declared their first innings closed on their overnight score of 498 for eight yesterday morning - will have batted only three times in this entire series, and without being bowled out once.

New Zealand were immediately in trouble against the South Africa pacemen, who obtained disconcerting pace and lift from a pitch which looked dead and unforgiving in the hands of the Kiwi bowlers.

Shaun Pollock produced a snorting delivery to send back Bryan Young in the fifth over after appearing to have him caught behind in the third, but Matt Horne and Roger Twose perished to shots which would have been questionable in a one-dayer, let alone a critical session of a test match.

Both were undone hooking at Steve Elworthy, who ended the day as he did the first, with four wickets under his belt and a five-wicket bag (his first in tests) in sight.

Stead and Astle fought doggedly to hold the innings together, adding 65 for the fourth wicket, but Elworthy's return to the bowling crease ended their resistance, and paved the way for wrist-spinner Paul Adams.

Stead was palpably lbw to a superb, reverse-swinging delivery in the 40th over, and Astle received a similar ball in the 61st, except that he did not manage to get a pad on it.

Adams struck late in the day on a pitch which has turned since Friday, removing Chris Harris - who defied the tourists for 166 minutes - and Adam Parore within the space of seven balls.