November 12, 2007	Monday	Ziqa’ad 01, 1428

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 11: South African captain Graeme Smith laid into the state of the country’s pitches after his team surged to a record win over New Zealand in the first Test on Sunday.

South Africa won by 358 runs after lunch on the fourth day to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

The result was South Africa’s biggest win in terms of runs, and it was also New Zealand’s heaviest defeat.

South Africa achieved their previous record when they beat England by 356 runs at Lord’s in 1994.

New Zealand’s biggest loss before this match came when Pakistan beat them by 299 runs in Auckland in 2001.

Smith, however, did not appear to be in a celebratory mood.

“It was never going to be easy on a wicket like that,” he told a news conference.

“You had to get the basics in place, and I think we did that.

“Wickets around the country are becoming poorer. In the last two years it’s become more difficult to find decent Test wickets in South Africa.

“If we’re going to take our game forward we need to take note of those things.”

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori laid the blame for the loss on his team’s first innings of 118.

“We started well and after Shane Bond and Chris Martin bowled the opposition out on the first day we were very much in the game,” Vettori told reporters.

“But our first batting performance was where it all went wrong. We then had to bowl so much that a couple of injuries meant we lost two bowlers.”

Fast bowler Bond has been ruled out of the rest of the tour with a torn abdominal muscle, while medium pacer Jacob Oram is doubtful with a hamstring injury.

Vettori said medium pacer Kyle Mills and batsman Jamie How had been summoned from New Zealand to join the tour squad.

“Kyle Mills and Jamie How have been called up but whether they’ll be up to speed for the second Test we’ll have to wait and see,” Vettori said.

—Reuters