Rachin Ravindra took three wickets and slammed the brakes on South Africa’s scoring to give New Zealand a slight edge on Tuesday, Day I of the second Test.
Ravindra claimed the key middle-order wickets of Zubayr Hamza, Keegan Petersen and David Bedingham and bowled 21 overs at a cost of only 33 runs to swing the day in New Zealand’s favour.
The hosts faced an unexpected obstacle when Ruan de Swardt posted his maiden half-century and Shaun von Berg, the burly all-rounder making his Test debut at 37, shared an unbroken partnership of 70. De Swardt was 55 not out and Von Berg was unbeaten on 34 as they reached 220/6 at stumps.
On a day of unusual decisions, New Zealand left out Mitchell Santner, who took six wickets in the first Test, included four seamers and ended up leaning heavily on Ravindra’s left-arm spin. South Africa captain Neil Brand became only the second captain in the last 11 Tests at Seddon Park to bat first on winning the toss.
Brief scores: South Africa 220/6 (Ruan de Swardt 55 batting; Rachin Ravindra 4/33) vs New Zealand.
At stumps, Day I.
