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Wickets tumble on the
opening day's play at Jo'burg |
Link to Scorecard
As many as 12 wickets fell down
in the opening day's play the Wanderers in Johannesburg of the first Test
between South Africa and New Zealand. At Stumps, New Zealand were reduced to 41
for 2 in reply to the hosts' 226.
South Africa opted to bat first
on a spicy wicket which was expected to play worst as the game progressed. After
a couple of early jolts, SA seemed to have revived through a cautious
partnership between Herschelle Gibbs and Kallis. New Zealand made sure that SA
couldn't turn their partnerships into big ones by constantly chipping away at
the wickets. It took just 74.3 overs to wipe off the South African batting.
Herschelle Gibbs' 125-ball 63 with 13 boundaries provided the respectability to
the total. Kallis with 29, AB de Villiers with 33 and Mark Boucher with 43 were
the other significant contributors. For the Kiwis, the opening bowlers - Shane
Bond with 4 for 73 in 17 overs and Chris Martin with 3 for 67 in 17.3 overs were
the chief destroyers. Skipper Daniel Vettori got a couple of wickets.
The Proteas had a smile towards
the end of the day's play as they could make inroads in the New Zealand batting.
By the close they got rid of the two opening batsmen - Michael Papps and Craig
Cumming. Ntini and Steyn were the wicket takers. At Stumps, Stephen Fleming on
22 has survived along with night watchman Shane Bond.
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