Dunedin: South Africa led New Zealand by five runs with nine second-innings
wickets in hand at stumps Friday as the meandering third day of the first
cricket test became dramatic when a fire alarm forced the evacuation of the
stadium."Two South Africa-born players were critical to New Zealand achieving a
first-innings lead.4 overs to assemble is 308 as it batted first on winning the
toss and as Dean Elgar anchored its innings with 140 - his highest test score,
compiled in just under seven hours. Kane Williamson brought up his 16th Test
century, putting him one behind the New Zealand record of 17 held by the late
Martin Crowe. First the main grandstand was evacuated, then when fire trucks
arrived, the decision was made that the whole stadium should be cleared.
Players
left the field - South Africa was then 14-1 - and the instruction went out that
the stadium should be cleared; television commentators were forced to down
microphones mid-sentence as the demanded evacuation was strictly enforced.
Wagner went on the offensive at the start of the final session - the first sign
of aggressive batting in the match - and hit 4, 6, 4 from Vernon Philander on
his way to 32 from as many deliveries with five fours and two sixes.
Wicketkeeper BJ Watling made 50 - his 13th half century in tests and his third
in seven test innings against South Africa - and Neil Wagner blasted 32 to push
New Zealand beyond the Proteas&China pump motors
Suppliers39; total.And South Africa lost opener Stephen Cook before reaching
38-1 at stumps Friday.
Then Ross Taylor, who retired hurt on 8 after suffering a
calf injury Thursday, returned to the crease unexpectedly and added a further 7
runs before ending with an unusual not out against his name.New Zealand had gone
to tea at 304-8, still four runs behind South Africa. He put on 17 runs in his
last wicket partnership with Wagner to give New Zealand a small lead.Play was
delayed by 20 minutes and stumps were pushed back by that margin until players
and fans returned when no sign of fire was found.Kane Williamson's 16th test
century helped New Zealand to 341 in reply to South Africa's first innings of
308. The day had a final, downbeat ending when the umpires called players from
the field for bad light after 18 overs when Elgar was 12 not out and Hashim Amla
23.
New Zealand then needed 114."It's just a small tear so it was nice to
contribute in some sort of way and get a bit of a lead but it's obviously still
frustrating," Taylor said.3 overs to achieve its small first-innings lead and,
again, the effort revolved around one significant innings - Williamson's effort
- which occupied 6 hours, 20 minutes.A day on which two closely-matched teams
competed # for any small advantage and on which Williamson's 130 and Keshav
Maharaj's 5-94 were highlights needed that injection of external drama to rise
above the humdrum.Kane Williamson's 16th test century helped New Zealand to 341
in reply to South Africa's first innings of 308 - a slight but significant lead
of 33 runs in a match which has been in the balance since the first day. "It's
nice to get a bit of momentum into our innings and we obviously batted very
well, led by Kane.South Africa took 122.A day played in bitterly cold conditions
came to life less than an hour before scheduled stumps when a fire alarm began
to blare at the University Oval
I am not a fan of cricket and I don’t understand all the terminologies
being mentioned in this article. I have no intention to learn it because I personally
think that this sport is boring as all hell. It does not require extreme athleticism
and coordination and all the players are bland and boring. There are no
celebrities that I know of at all. Golfers have more recognition that the
players on this sport. I can pick a few golfer out from a crowd but I would
have no idea who these cricket players are even if they started to talk to me
about cricket. The sport makes me want to kill your friends in Among Us and even
watch an american quiz show just to erase it from my memory.
Posted by: remydanton at September 23, 2020 11:03 PM (f/48T)