Tea South Africa 252 for 3 (Petersen 103*, Amla 66, Kallis 60) lead New Zealand 45 (Philander 5-7, Morkel 3-14) by 207 runs
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A wonderfully-crafted new-ball spell from Vernon Philander, which
brought him five wickets in six overs, set the tone for a wholly
embarrassing day for New Zealand as they careered to the third-lowest
Test score in their history, and the lowest Test total since 1974, in a
contest which wasted no time in giving the impression of a mismatch.
The New Zealand innings, undermined initially by Philander's excellence,
but increasingly defeatist as it progressed, lasted only 19.2 overs as
they were bowled out in the first session. Lunch was still 19 minutes
away when Daniel Flynn made a hash of a pull at Dale Steyn to be the
last man out, leaving New Zealand no nearer to finding a semblance of
stability following the controversial sacking of Ross Taylor from the
captaincy.
It was a gorgeous day at Newlands, and a capacity crowd soaked up the
sunshine and relished the sight of South African domination.
South Africa lost their captain, Graeme Smith, in two overs leading up
to lunch, but the mastery established by Philander was equally apparent
with the bat. Alviro Petersen helped himself to a measured, unbeaten
Test hundred to underline his growing maturity. Hashim Amla purred along
much as he pleased against optimistically attacking fields, extending
his repertoire on occasions as if to stave off boredom and making 66
from 74 balls, before he wandered blithely across his stumps against
James Franklin and suffered for his presumption.
Statistical landmarks, though, fell elsewhere. Dale Steyn reached 300
Test wickets in his 61st Test before lunch and became the fourth South
African to do so, following Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald and Makhaya
Ntini. Then came another redoubtable figure, Jacques Kallis, who joined
Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid as makers of 13,000
Test runs. He briefly gorged himself on the New Zealand attack in the
unconcerned manner of a king used to more exacting feats before
departing with many potential courses left uneaten.
This has been one of the sorriest interludes in New Zealand cricket,
with allegations of dishonesty and former players burning blazers, but
when the real business - Test cricket - returned, matters became even
worse as New Zealand were humbled by a mighty South Africa pace attack.
Philander's method was simple and clinical as he maintained impeccable
accuracy and found just enough assistance to be persistently
threatening. Martin Guptill, Dean Brownlie and BJ Watling edged to
wicketkeeper or slips, New Zealand's brusque new captain, Brendon
McCullum, was bowled off an inside edge trying to cover the outswing and
Kane Williamson fell lbw after his recourse to DRS proved unsuccessful.
There was nothing manifestly disturbing about Philander, no trepidation
caused by express pace or even lavish movement, but conditions were
lively enough and he lulled a somewhat naïve New Zealand batting line-up
into error, killing with kindness, a technician takinbg advantage of
indeterminate footwork. It took South Africa a long time to recognise
his subtle talents and he is making up for lost time.
He returned new-ball figures of 6-3-7-5, quite a feat for a bowler who
had been doubtful for this Test after tweaking a hamstring a fortnight
ago and who was described by Smith, his captain, on the eve of the Test
as "provisionally fit". New Zealand will be provisionally judged to be
out of their depth and the two-Test series will be provisionally held to
be over.
All this delayed, if not entirely overshadowed, Steyn's move to 300 Test
wickets. He went unrewarded in his opening spell while Philander
wreaked havoc, but switched to the Wynberg End for his second spell and
with his third ball bowled Doug Bracewell with a delivery that swung
away to hit off stump.
The last thing New Zealand needed was a difficult decision at the toss,
but that was what McCullum faced in his first Test in charge since the
removal of Taylor. The pitch was green, if not especially so, and
certainly not as green as the New Zealand batsmen. It would have been
tempting for New Zealand captains of the old school to feel their way
into the Test by having a bowl. Instead, McCullum took the assertive
route, as is his style, and his team was found entirely wanting.
In cricketing terms, McCullum's decision was justifiable. There were
enough cracks in a pitch dried out by the strong winds of recent days to
dissuade McCullum from batting last and, if he looked upwards, he found
a stunning Cape Town morning, with Table Mountain shimmering under
cloudless blue skies. All they had to do was survive a session. Instead,
Philander's lissom skills soon took their toll.
He had a wicket with the last ball of his first over, an outswinger
edged by Guptill. There were two more wickets in his third over; a
good-length ball caused McCullum to play on and Brownlie fell third ball
for nought. It was a limp shot from Brownlie who was batting in
Taylor's spot at No. 4 (a spot where Taylor made 142 and 74 in his last
two Test innings, against Sri Lanka in Colombo), one that was hardly designed to fill New Zealand with a sense of feelgood.
Philander was unlikely to be given a long spell considering the creeping
doubts about his fitness, but he made the most of his limited timespan.
Williamson, after having the temerity to drive him down the ground,
fell lbw to the last ball of his fourth over and BJ Watling fell to
probably the best ball of the lot when the first delivery of his fifth
over again found the edge. Morne Morkel preyed upon the tail.
Kallis and Steyn's historic moments will mean that much of the attention
will rest upon them. But this is only Philander's third Test at
Newlands and he already has 19 wickets at 9.73. He loves Test cricket
and he loves nowhere more than Newlands.
David Hopps is the UK editor of ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: David Hopps
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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