AUCKLAND, March 21: New Zealand's Chris Martin captured his first 10-wicket haul as South Africa suffered a late second innings collapse in their bid to save the second Test of the three-match series on Sunday.
At the close of the fourth day, South Africa were 277 for six, still 22 runs adrift of New Zealand's first innings total with Jacques Rudolph (121) and Shaun Pollock (5) the not out batsmen going into the final day.
After dismissing New Zealand for 595 in the morning, the Proteas set about the tough task of erasing a 299-run first innings deficit in the worse possible fashion, losing skipper Graeme Smith off the first delivery of their second innings.
The Proteas battled back in the afternoon and were cruising at 249 for two after Herschelle Gibbs and Rudolph had put on 103 for the second wicket and the latter had been joined by Jacques Kallis to add 146 for the third.
But Martin, who took six wickets in the first innings, had other ideas and captured three of the four wickets to fall in the last 12 overs of the day. The initial breakthrough was made by part-time bowler Craig McMillan when he trapped Kallis leg before for 71, putting an end to the burly all-rounder's bid to emulate Sir Donald Bradman with six centuries in consecutive Test matches.
Playing his first Test for two years, Martin built on the shift in momentum to dismiss Gary Kirsten for one and Neil McKenzie for a duck off the next delivery.
When the new ball was taken, Martin got Mark Boucher to edge a catch to Brendon McCullum as New Zealand pressed for victory. At the other end watching the carnage was Rudolph, who reached his third century during the partnership with Kallis and will need to stay at the crease for as long as possible if the tourists are to retain any hope of saving the match. Martin's match figures to date are 10-147, the best for a Black Cap against South Africa.
Scoreboard
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings 296 (G.C. Smith 88, H.H. Gibbs 80; C.S. Martin 6-76).
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings, overnight 584-8):
M.H. Richardson c Gibbs b Kallis 45
M.H.W. Papps c Boje b Pollock 0
S.P. Fleming c Kallis b Ntini 4
S.B. Styris c Pollock b Boje 170
C.D. McMillan b Pollock 82
B.B. McCullum b Ntini 13
C.L. Cairns c Kallis b Smith 158
J.D.P. Oram b Ntini 90
D.L. Vettori not out 4
D.R. Tuffey b Pollock 13
C.S. Martin b Pollock 0
EXTRAS (LB-10, NB-6) 16
TOTAL (all out, 148.5 overs) 595
FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-12, 3-137, 4-285, 5-314, 6-349, 7-574, 8-578, 9-595.
BOWLING: Pollock 32.5-6-113-4 (1nb); Ntini 36-7-110-3 (5nb); Terbrugge 22-4-93-0; Kallis 23-1-108-1; Boje 22-2-108-1; McKenzie 2-0-8-0; Rudolph 6-0-26-0; Smith 5-0-19-1.
SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings):
G.C. Smith b Martin 0
H.H. Gibbs lbw b Oram 61
J.A. Rudolph not out 121
J.H. Kallis lbw b McMillan 71
G. Kirsten lbw b Martin 1
N.D. McKenzie c Papps b Martin 0
M.V. Boucher c Fleming b Martin 10
S.M. Pollock not out 5
EXTRAS (B-6, LB-1, NB-1) 8
TOTAL (for six wkts, 83 overs) 277
FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-103, 3-249, 4-250, 5-250, 6-272.
