AUCKLAND, March 17: South Africa and New Zealand square up in Thursday's second Test with several individual milestones threatening to overshadow what is turning out to be a highly-competitive series.

After the first drawn Test, South African skipper Graeme Smith admitted the chance for three of his players to enter the history books during the match had added extra spice.

Gary Kirsten will play his 100th Test, paceman Shaun Pollock needs one wicket to break the South African record of 330 while Jacques Kallis could equal Australian Don Bradman's record of centuries in six consecutive Tests.

Kirsten, 36, who earlier this week announced his retirement from international cricket, will become the first South African and one of just 29 players to play 100 Tests.

New Zealand have two personal targets as well. All-rounder Chris Cairns took just one wicket in the drawn first Test to move to 198, just two short of becoming the second New Zealander to 200 wickets. He also sits on 2892 runs, leaving him 108 runs and two wickets short of becoming the sixth player in the world to do the 3000-200 double.

Teams (from):

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mark Richardson, Michael Papps, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Ian Butler, Paul Wiseman, Chris Martin.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Neil McKenzie, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Paul Adams, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Nicky Boje, Albie Morkel, David Terbrugge.

Umpires: Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan). -AFP