Cricket: Taylor rues a lost chance for test win

Ross Taylor. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand will take heart from the rained-out first test against the South Africa, but the visitors reckon they'll be stronger in the second match starting in Hamilton on Thursday.

In terms of who took bragging rights out of the first four days at University Oval, both camps could probably feel they gathered solid points out of the test, which ended in a fifth-day washout shortly after lunch yesterday.

New Zealand were 137 for two, with captain Ross Taylor and his deputy Brendon McCullum well set on 48 and 58 respectively. They were 264 runs shy of victory, or eight wickets from defeat.

The shame of it was that the test was beautifully balanced, the pitch was comfortable if slow.

No one gave New Zealand much chance before the match of competing on level terms with the world's No 2-ranked side. They had to scrap at times, but did enough to show they are up for a fight.

Taylor felt New Zealand had a good chance of pressing on for victory - a full day would have had them requiring less than three runs an over to win.

He conceded that with just five specialist batsmen much would have depended on himself and McCullum spending a large chunk of time at the crease.

The fact that New Zealand weren't mown over by a formidable South African outfit was distinctly encouraging.

"We played Australia a while ago and competed with them, so it's no surprise to us that we're competing with South Africa."

There are few more soulless sporting locations than a cricket ground getting a drenching. The state of the match only enhanced that view.

South African captain Graeme Smith firmly believed his team will be a stronger proposition in Hamilton. However, he echoed comments he made before the test that he felt an element of a stitch-up was in place with the choice of Dunedin as first test venue.

"The weather was always going to be a factor. They brought us to Dunedin for the weather and the weather ended up winning the day," he said. "That's the reality of playing over here."

South Africa needed a 3-0 series sweep to move to No 1 in the test rankings. That's off the menu, but Smith said his team had not been at their best over the first two days and improved as the match wore on.

"I feel if we can get a few guys hitting their straps we'll hopefully put in a big performance in Hamilton."

New Zealand "would have probably taken a bit of strength out of this game", he admitted.

All of which has the Seddon Park test, with ideally a touch more life in the pitch than Dunedin, nicely set up.