South Africa keep pegging away at New Zealand

Tea New Zealand 144 for 5 (Vettori 18*, van Wyk 1*) trail South Africa 238 (Amla 62, Smith 53, Rudolph 52, Martin 4-56) by 94 runs

Doug Bracewell finished the South Africa innings by running out Imran Tahir © Associated Press

Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum batted through a hostile spell from Morne Morkel, only to throw their wickets away while looking for quick runs, when steady consolidation might have been advisable. New Zealand finished the afternoon session at 144 for 5, having lost four wickets after lunch, in reply to South Africa's 238 all out in Dunedin.

Martin Guptill and McCullum may have thought they'd blunted the worst of South Africa's assault in the hour before lunch, but the interrogation continued well into the afternoon session, as Morne Morkel unleashed a brutal spell once movement began to dwindle for his team-mates. The slower Dunedin track had hampered Morkel prior to lunch, but a return to the crease with renewed vigour yielded immediate results, and tested the top order's mettle. A smattering of welts on Taylor's arms, chest and shoulders will let him know he has been in a fight.

Morkel had hunted in the morning, and his breakthrough in the first over of the second session, when Guptill was late on a fuller, angled delivery, only amplified the bowler's aggression. Taylor wore several in his first exchange with Morkel - two on the fingers, one on the ribs and two more glancing blows just below the helmet grille. Edges deflected off the body, landed short of the slips or flew just wide. Having survived the sternest of examinations against the moving ball in the previous session, New Zealand were pinned by the next weapon in South Africa's armoury.

Though clearly intimidated, Taylor and McCullum refused to be shaken. While Morkel was often unplayable, the runs started to tick at the other end when Philander's impeccable line began to waiver. Movement from earlier in the day had all but disappeared, and the drives down the ground that had become more profitable became New Zealand's favoured currency.

The pair escaped Morkel's first spell with their wickets in tact, but Imran Tahir was no less effective - though perhaps his threat was less conspicuous. The University Oval pitch had taken turn from day one, and Tahir had the batsmen groping early, getting the ball to dip and kick past the outside edge repeatedly. McCullum was particularly quick to pounce when Tahir dropped short, and eventually worked up the courage to use his feet as well, scuttling down the pitch to send the ball whistling over the bowler's head.

But as has been the case so many times in their careers McCullum and Taylor's belligerence proved to be their downfall. Having battled through difficult spells from one of the world's finest attacks, they aggressed too early, and too mindlessly, just as consolidation beckoned. Their 65-run association was broken when McCullum attempted to sweep Tahir hard against the turn, serving up a high top edge, before Taylor chased a wide one and was caught behind, having already hit two fours in the over.

Daniel Vettori was characteristically undaunted at the crease, a spate of off side boundaries, helping subdue an opposition attack once more on the hunt. But the wicket of Kane Williamson just before tea swung the match back towards South Africa. Their finest bowling had been largely unrewarded. But a lack of patience and an inability to stay vigilant over long periods meant the visitors were in the reckoning for a first innings lead.