South Africa v New Zealand - First Test

Springbok Park, Bloemfontein

South Africa: BA Richards, TL Goddard, *WJ Cronje, RG Pollock, DJ Cullinan, JN Rhodes, +DT Lindsay, MJ Procter, NBF Mann, AA Donald, NAT Adcock.
New Zealand: GM Turner, B Sutcliffe, AH Jones, MD Crowe, MP Donnelly, *JR Reid, +AC Parore, RJ Hadlee, DK Morrison, J Cowie, SL Boock.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: Khizer Hayat (PAK) & DM Archer (WI)
Toss: South Africa

The big news ahead of the first Test was that Chris Cairns would not be making his debut for New Zealand in Bloemfontein or, indeed, in any match in this series due to a torn hamstring suffered in training. Cairns' arrival on the ATG circuit had been highly anticipated, but the first Test still managed to serve up all kinds of excitement in his absence, with South Africa dominating the early exchanges.

Hansie Cronje won a vital toss on a damp and overcast first day, and shortly after tea New Zealand had been bowled out for just 202, only managing to get that many thanks to skipper John Reid's skilful marshaling of the tail. Reid's attacking 73 was his fourth consecutive score of fifty or more, and it just about kept Kiwi heads above water in the face of some probing pace bowling from Donald, Procter and Adcock. The biggest partnership of the innings was the 35 Reid added for the eighth wicket with a defiant Danny Morrison, but a career high score of 16 was to prove Morrison's most positive contribution to the match as he became embroiled in controversy on the second day.

With Hadlee bowling superbly to remove both openers, South Africa's batsmen were finding the conditions every bit as difficult as their New Zealand counterparts, and with the score on 94-2 Morrison had a confident appeal for caught behind against Cronje turned down by umpire Archer. An incandescent Morrison responded by bowling a beamer at the South African captain with the very next ball, and it was at this point that Graeme Pollock, the non-striker at the time, took it upon himself to stamp his authority on the game.

In conditions that were still testing, Pollock stroked his way to a marvellous century before stumps, becoming just the second player after Bradman to pass 6000 career runs in the process, and having added exactly 100 for the fourth wicket with a resilient Cullinan (36), he proceeded to dominate a series of fruitful partnerships as South Africa took control on day three. From an overnight score of 257-5, Pollock powered his side first past 300 and then on past the 400 mark, and in conditions that were now far more batsman friendly, even last man Neil Adcock got in on the act, contributing a career best 19 to a South African record last wicket stand of 66, during which time Pollock managed to raise what was a truly magnificent double hundred.

Pollock finally finished undefeated on 237 out of South Africa's eventual total of 485, and the tourists now had more than two days batting ahead of them if they were going to save the game. Wickets fell regularly though, and only Turner stood firm, grinding out a valuable fifty before finally falling for 78 to the spin of Mann, leaving New Zealand on a rocky 160-5 shortly before tea on the fourth afternoon. Martin Donnelly was the last specialist batsman remaining for the tourists, and just as Reid had done in the first innings, Donnelly set about organising the lower order into some sort of meaningful resistance.

Hadlee (21) helped add 50 runs for the eighth wicket, but when last man Cowie came to the crease, New Zealand were still 37 runs behind and South Africa looked like they would wrap up victory inside four days. However, just as Neil Adcock had done for the hosts, Cowie batted like never before, attacking the bowling and pushing the game into its final day, allowing Donnelly to complete a most deserved century before Cowie was finally stumped off Mann for 33, by far his highest ever score. New Zealand's total of 315 set the Proteas a nominal target of 33, and although the cheap dismissals of both Richards and Goddard tarnished the celebrations just a little, South Africa wrapped up a comfortable eight wicket victory before lunch. The damage had been done on the first day, but had it not been for Graeme Pollock, the outcome of this series opener could have been very different indeed.

1st & 2nd innings scorecards
(click to enlarge)

Scores
NZL 1st Inns 202 (Reid 73; Procter 4-46)
SAF 1st Inns 485 (Pollock 237*, Lindsay 41; Hadlee 4-113)
NZL 2nd Inns 315 (Donnelly 100*, Turner 78)
SAF 2nd Inns 35-2

SOUTH AFRICA WON BY 8 WICKETS


Man of the Match: RG Pollock