South Africa beat New Zealand in Hamilton Test to take 1-0 lead

Hamilton: Vernon Philander achieved his best Test bowling figures of six for 44 and Graeme Smith made an unbeaten half-century on Saturday as South Africa beat New Zealand by nine wickets in the second Test to lead the series 1-0.

Philander swept through New Zealand's tail after lunch on the third day to fill his fifth bag of five wickets or more in his short Test career. He posted match figures of 10 for 114 after taking four for 70 in New Zealand's first innings (185).

New Zealand were all out for 168 after trailing by 68 runs in the first innings and South Africa only needed 19.5 overs to make up the 101-run margin. Smith scored 55 and Hashim Amla 46 in an unbroken 98-run partnership.

The 26-year-old Philander became the first player in 130 years to reach 45 wickets in his first six Test appearances, a statistic that staggered him.

"Heck, now you're going back a long way," he said. "It's just going well for me. I've been bowling well in our first-class competition back home, so I'll take it and hopefully I can get us through another few Test matches this year."

"Bowling is like batting and when you have the form, you have to take advantage."

South Africa completed their win over New Zealand in only two and a half days to take a critical 1-0 lead in the three-match series, after the two teams drew the rain-affected first Test in Dunedin. The third Test starts in Wellington on Thursday.

New Zealand resumed their second innings on Saturday at 65-4, still trailing South Africa by three runs and with the best of their batters already back in the pavilion.

Kane Williamson, who resumed at 41 not out, lifted his total to 77 in the morning session, but lost two partners — Daniel Vettori for 21 and Kruger van Wyk for 20 — before New Zealand went to lunch at 142-6.

Williamson was then out without adding to his score only three balls into the second session — and South Africa quickly capitalized. Philander had Williamson caught by Mark Boucher, the South African wicketkeeper's 550th catch in Tests.

Doug Bracewell then followed without scoring and Mark Gillespie hit a six and two fours in a brief innings of 14 before becoming Philander's fifth victim, also caught by Boucher.

Philander completed his best bowling figures in Tests — topping his previous best of five for 15 against Australia — when he bowled Chris Martin to end the New Zealand innings. The Kiwis lost their last four wickets after lunch in only 27 balls, in 25 minutes.

South Africa suffered a momentary setback when they lost opener Alviro Petersen (1) in the second over. But Smith and Amla calmly and quickly led the tourists to their winning total. Smith took his 55 runs from only 60 balls with eight fours and a six, while Amla scored his unbeaten 46 from 56 balls with nine fours.

"It's always good to win a Test away from home but we had to work for it," Smith said. "We weren't so proud of our batting performance in the first innings."

South Africa took charge on the first day when New Zealand collapsed dramatically from 133-2 to 133-7 before being all out for 185.

Recalled fast bowler Mark Gillespie, playing his fourth Test and his first in four years, then took five for 59 as South Africa slipped to 88-6 before recovering to claim a precious 68-run first-innings lead. AB de Villiers made 83 and Morne Morkel was 35 not out.

New Zealand slumped to 7 for 3 in their second innings and never recovered to set a demanding total for the Proteas to chase.

"At 88 for six in the first innings it was a bit squeaky in our changing room," Smith said. "But I think it's a sign of a good Test team that we were able to get ourselves out of trouble and get ourselves into a position where we were able to dominate the game."

New Zealand's top order batting failed again, as it has throughout the series, but captain Ross Taylor said the Kiwis had to approach the final Test with a positive frame of mind.

"South Africa just outplayed us," Taylor said. "We played well in parts and were probably on top at a couple of crucial times but South Africa pegged us back."

"We've got to pick ourselves up from this. We're not out of this series and we can still draw the series come Wellington."

New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by 90 runs

Dunedin: Allrounder Rob Nicol took four wickets as New Zealand bowled out Zimbabwe for 158 on Friday to win the first of three one-day internationals by 90 runs.

Nicol atoned for his duck when opening New Zealand's innings by putting in an outstanding bowling performance which helped the hosts skittle Zimbabwe in 41.1 overs at University Oval.

Nicol's opening partner Martin Guptill anchored the New Zealand innings with his knock of 70 and the allrounder's apparently innocuous off-spin bowling helped to destabilize Zimbabwe's reply. Veteran paceman Kyle Mills had earlier removed the top of the Zimbabwe lineup and finished with three wickets.

Captain Brendan Taylor top-scored for Zimbabwe with 58 from 68 balls and put on 52 for its fourth wicket with wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu (20). But the pair were the best hope of the Zimbabwe innings and when they were out — Taibu with the total at 67, Taylor at 97 — the innings steadily dwindled.

A partnership of 34 for the ninth wicket between the veteran Ray Price — playing his 100th one-day international — and Keegan Meth added 34 but that was the last show of defiance from Zimbabwe.

Price finished 26 not out while Nicol took 4-19 from 4.1 overs and Mills 3-26 from eight overs.

Mills dismissed Stuart Matsikenyeri with the last ball of the opening over and, after Matsikenyeri's opening partner Hamilton Masakadza was run out for 7, he then removed Regis Chakabva to leave Zimbabwe 15-3 in the seventh over.

Taylor and Taibu gave the total some substance, occupying the crease for more than 13 overs. But, when Taibu was out in the 20th over, the visitors' progress was too slow to really threaten New Zealand. At the midpoint of its innings, Zimbabwe was 91-4 and already New Zealand's moderate total seemed unreachable.

Nicol removed Taylor, Malcolm Waller for 12, Meth for 10 and Kyle Jarvis for two to achieve his best international bowling figures.

Earlier, Shingirai Masakadza took 4-46 in a display of controlled medium pace bowling as Zimbabwe held to New Zealand to what seemed an attainable total after winning the toss and electing to bowl.

Masakadza toiled into a strong wind for 9.3 overs as Zimbabwe bowled out New Zealand in the 49th over of its innings on a greenish pitch.

New Zealand lost its first two wickets for four runs in the first eight balls of the innings. But Guptill's innings of 70 and his 88-run partnership with Kyle Williamson lifted New Zealand to 92-3 and gave its innings a foundation.

Elton Chigumbura captured the wickets of Guptill and debutant Tom Latham (24) and Masakadza rolled through the middle order to leave Zimbabwe a competitive target.

Mixing a well-disguised slower ball with deliveries that sometimes surprised the batsmen with pace and bounce, Masakadza helped Zimbabwe put the brakes on New Zealand's scoring after Guptill's dominant innings.

Guptill had reached his half century — his 13th in one-day internationals — in 82 minutes from only 44 balls with seven fours. He played some outstanding shots down the ground as he re-established New Zealand's innings after the loss of Nicol to the fifth ball of the innings and captain Brendon McCullum (3) to the eighth.

New Zealand fielded three players on debut Friday and all made contributions. Latham, the son of former Test opener Rod Latham, made 24 from 33 balls, allrounder Andy Ellis made 33 from 30 balls, then took one for 34, and Test batsman Dean Brownlie was run out for 19 in his first one-day international.