Fast bowler Dale Steyn set up a series-clinching, 204-run win for South Africa on the fourth day of the second and final Test against New Zealand at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday.
Steyn took three wickets with his first 11 balls of the innings and finished with five for 33 as New Zealand were bowled out for 195 despite a defiant innings of 76 by Henry Nicholls.
It looked as though it would be easy for the hosts when Steyn and Vernon Philander ripped through New Zealand’s top four batsmen for seven runs inside the first four overs of the innings.
But the left-handed Nicholls, playing in his sixth Test match, displayed courage and concentration in making his second Test half-century and highest score to delay South Africa’s celebrations. He found a similarly determined partner in BJ Watling, who made 32 in a two-hour, 68-run-fifth-wicket-partnership, while Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell and Tim Southee all provided varying degrees of resistance.
Nicholls was last player to get out after batting for 255 minutes. He faced 140 balls and hit 12 fours.
Brief Score:
South Africa 481 for 8 dec (du Plessis 112*, Duminy 88, de Kock 82, Wagner 5-86) and 132 for 7 dec. (de Kock 50, Southee 3-46).
New Zealand: 214 (Williamson 77, Rabada 3-62, Steyn 3-66) and 195 (Nicholls 76, Steyn 5-33) .
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