South Africa have won comfortably. The one point where it seemed the teams were evenly matched was in the South African reply in the first innings, after six wickets were down for not too many. But the efforts of AB de Villiers and the tail, and a dominating bowling performance in the second innings set up South Africa for this victory. Smith and Amla, in a small chase, ensured there weren't any hiccups. New Zealand have a lot to ponder over, their batting in particular. Their tail is long, and contributions have been missing at the top of the order.
Matt says this: "My XI next match Guptill, McCullum, Flynn, Taylor, Brownlie, Williamson, Vettori, Van Wyk (Watling has already been ruled out), Bracewell, Gillespie, Martin. Arnels overs can be filled by Brownlie, Guptill, and Williamsons part timers, and first priority should be batting depth."
Others would have their own views. But credit to the South African seamers, they bowled brilliantly. Yes, they did have assistance - the ball swung and moved about, but the balance between bat and ball was by no means lop-sided, certainly not to merit scores of 185 and 168. Time for the presentation.
Taylor: They outplayed us, Philander and Steyn put pressure on our batsmen. It was a pretty flat wicket as well, they bowled in the right areas. We were okay with the ball, they were 6 for 90-odd. We need to pick ourselves from this. Similar bounce to Dunedin but we didn't bowl in the right areas long enough to put them under pressure, and we didn't bat long enough. Kane applied himself well, he's still a young player.
Smith: We had to work for this win, our bowlers did a terrific job. It was a big squeeky in our change room at 88 for 6, that period after tea on day 2 was crucial and it set the tone. AB's innings was a crucial knock, marshalled the innings very well. We try to make sure Kallis' spells are crucial and planned, and he got Vettori with that short one. The track was a little two-paced maybe, but on these surfaces you need to graft.
Philander is the Man of the Match: "It's coming out well, nothing to complaining about. There was a bit of nip and as the ball got older I got a bit of reverse. We are also catching well at the moment, hopefully we'll do it in Wellington as well.
Many thanks for tuning in, folks. Thanks for your feedback. Have a nice weekend, see you during the next Test. Andrew Fernando's report for this match will be updated shortly.
What a comfortable chase, these two have made it look so easy. Just 2 more to win now. Rob Nicol to bowl
END OF OVER:19 | 17 Runs | SA: 99/1
- Hashim Amla46 (56b)
- Graeme Smith51 (55b)
- Kane Williamson2-0-23-0
- Mark Gillespie4-0-24-0
END OF OVER:18 | 2 Runs | SA: 82/1
- Graeme Smith40 (51b)
- Hashim Amla40 (54b)
- Mark Gillespie4-0-24-0
- Kane Williamson1-0-6-0
END OF OVER:17 | 6 Runs | SA: 80/1
- Graeme Smith39 (47b)
- Hashim Amla39 (52b)
- Kane Williamson1-0-6-0
- Mark Gillespie3-0-22-0