Recalled South Africa spinner Dane Piedt is eyeing a “famous, famous win” after yesterday claiming five New Zealand wickets to give the understrength tourists a 31-run lead at stumps on the second day of the second Test.
New Zealand’s batting succumbed to a disciplined attack led by Piedt, in his first Test since 2019, to be all out for 211 in response to South Africa’s 242 in Hamilton, New Zealand.
A Proteas team with just 40 Test caps between them have opened up the prospect of squaring the two-match series after crashing to a 281-run loss in the first Test at Mount Maunganui.
Photo: AP
The Proteas have never lost a Test series to New Zealand, but most of their first-choice players have stayed home for a domestic Twenty20 competition.
Piedt, who took career-best figures of 5-89 on a spin-friendly Seddon Park pitch, said his unheralded team had the self-belief to go on and win.
“It has been a tough tour, but we have a great camaraderie inside that dressing room,” he said. “We’re quite open and honest with one another, and hopefully those type of things will come through now. That’s in the South African DNA and we’ll fight as hard as we can now to get a famous, famous Test win.”
The 33-year-old off-spinner, not needed for the first Test, claimed the key wickets of Kane Williamson for 43 and Tom Latham for 40 after lunch, with New Zealand having started soundly to reach 75-1.
Rachin Ravindra, who hit a double century in the first Test, played on to Tshepo Moreki for 29 at the start of a hectic third session in which seven wickets tumbled.
Using good variation and finding decent turn, he removed Glenn Phillips for 4 and Will Young for 36, along with the last wicket to fall, Neil Wagner, who had raced to 33 off 27 balls before he was stumped.
Dane Paterson was also effective for the Proteas, with his accurate seam bowling earning figures of 3-39.
His first wicket came in the opening over of the innings when struggling opener Devon Conway was caught behind without scoring.
Latham said the tricky batting conditions meant it was crucial New Zealand’s bowlers strike quickly today.
“Dane [Piedt] showed on that wicket it’s obviously taking a lot of turn, so from our point of view the game’s in the balance,” Latham said. “Only 30 ahead, it’s going to be an important first couple of sessions for us tomorrow. Hopefully, we can take few lessons from how South Africa bowled.”
The Proteas started day two at 220-6, but lost their last four wickets in just 8.2 overs as Will O’Rourke tore through the tail to finish with figures of 4-59 on debut.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
RSS