Tail-end hits from Jansen and Maharaj provided the visitors with a handy 364 on the board in the first innings
Tea New Zealand 30 for 2 (Nicholls 17*, Conway 5*, Rabada 2-11) trail South Africa 364 (Erwee 108, Wagner 4-102) by 334 runs
Tom Latham was caught down the leg side by Kyle Verreynne, diving to his right, and Will Young was done in a manner more conventional, nicking off to a ball he should have left outside off. South Africa had an opportunity to take a third when Henry Nicholls, centurion from the first Test, cut Marco Jansen to backward point. The fielder, Sarel Erwee, didn’t pick the ball up until it was too late and by the time he moved to his left, it was on its way for four.
Run-scoring remained slow, with the rate at just under three an over for the 43 South Africa batted on the second day. New Zealand relied on discipline to create their chances, bowling a further 13 maidens, to add to the 31 on the first day, to take their total to 44, a third of the total overs bowled.
Conditions changed mid-way through the second morning as clouds rolled in and a light drizzle began to fall, prompting the seam movement which was absent on the first day to come into play. South Africa’s attack won’t mind too much, especially after they showed good temperament to push the score past 300 from teetering on 296 for 7.
Two balls later, Henry beat Kyle Verreynne with one that seamed away and missed the edge and two balls after that, Verreynne was nearly run-out at the non-striker’s end as he got off the mark with a risky single. Henry only had to wait until his next over for Verreynne to nick off to second slip. South Africa’s wicketkeeper batter has now scored just 112 runs from six Test innings and averages 14.00.
Wiaan Mulder, still considered a batting allrounder, looked composed and played crisp drives off the front and back foot before attempting a half-hearted pull shot and as hard as he tried to bail out, he popped he popped up a top edge that landed safely in Tom Blundell’s gloves. South Africa went to lunch on 298 for 7. They lost Kagiso Rabada two overs after the break when he became Wagner’s fourth wicket, playing at a ball on fourth-stump line only to get a thick edge to slip.
A short rain delay did not put Jansen or Maharaj off their task and they batted with fluency as New Zealand fell into the trap of peppering Nos. 8 and 10 with short balls. Maharaj brought out the upper cut off Henry, Jansen was strong on the pull off Wagner, then Maharaj flayed Wagner for three boundaries in an over to bring up the fifty-run stand and sliced Southee through cover for four. Kyle Jamieson, who had not had any success earlier in the innings, put an end to South Africa’s chutzpah when he had Maharaj caught at gully and Lutho Sipamla caught in the slips to end South Africa’s innings 25 minutes before the scheduled tea break.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent