Dean Elgar became the first captain to win the toss and bat at the Hagley Oval
Lunch South Africa 80 for 0 (Erwee 53*, Elgar 25*) vs New Zealand
Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee put on South Africa’s best opening partnership in 16 innings, since December 2020, and best performance of the series so far with an opening stand of 80 by lunch. The pair defied New Zealand’s attack, and history, after Elgar became the first captain to win the toss and bat at the Hagley Oval. It was only the second time in 11 Tests at the ground that the batting team went to lunch without losing a wicket.
The decision was particularly forthright after South Africa were bowled out for 95 and 111 in the first Test but Elgar wanted his batters to front up and he led the way.
He started by glancing the first ball he faced to the fine-leg boundary for four but with swing in the air, Tim Southee had a few opportunities to snag him upfront. Southee forced the pull with a rare short ball that Elgar half-pulled to midwicket, beat the inside edge and then found the outside edge, but the chance fell short of first slip. He teased the outside edge again but Elgar got his own back when he pulled a second short ball to the square-leg boundary.
Elgar’s new opening partner, Erwee, playing in his second Test started quietly on the other end and scored just five runs off the first 25 balls he faced before almost losing his leg stump to an inswinging yorker from Southee. His first convincing shot was a punch through square leg off Kyle Jamieson, and by the 16th over, he had drawn level with Elgar in runs terms. While Elgar remained fairly tentative, and nearly edged Jamieson onto his stumps, Erwee inside-edged Matt Henry to fine leg and then drove Jamieson through mid-off to bring up the fifty stand.
Even then, things did not get entirely easy for South Africa. Erwee was hit on the box by Henry but then hit his stride, with a series of confident drives. He brought up his fifty off Colin de Grandhomme with a shot that went wide of point for four and took South Africa to lunch.
On a surface with noticeably less green grass, New Zealand’s attack were not able to recreate the seam movement they got in the first Test and bowled a little shorter too. The talk is that things will quicken up after lunch, so South Africa will be eyeing more runs.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent