KEY POINTS:
CENTURION - New Zealand's capitulation in the second test was complete half-an-hour after tea on the third day as an innings defeat sealed a 2-0 series hammering that captain Daniel Vettori said was due to the meagre amount of test cricket his team have played.
New Zealand, trailing
by 195 runs on first innings, were reduced to 136 for nine in their second innings and with Craig Cumming unable to bat, that meant defeat by an innings and 59 runs.
They suffered a 358-run loss - their biggest ever in terms of runs - in the first test at the Wanderers and their previous test before that ended on December 18, 2006.
"We need to play more test cricket," Vettori said. "Then we can learn the actual dynamics and flow of test cricket. Then the individual players will increase their skill levels."
Vettori was confident that the Black Caps would bounce back from the mauling and be competitive in the three one-day internationals and twenty20 match that follow.
"Our one-day form has been markedly better than our test form so we will be going into those games with some confidence.
Obviously we're missing a few players, but the few days before the twenty20 match on Friday will be crucial in terms of giving us confidence that will hopefully bleed into our performance."
Stephen Fleming's dogged 54 today was New Zealand's only half-century in the entire series and the batsmen incurred the wrath of Vettori afterwards.
"I was reasonably happy with the bowling, but the batting performance was just not good enough. At no stage did we have a decent partnership and we didn't score a single total over 200.
Our batting was basically revolving doors and you've got no chance of winning a test batting like that," Vettori said.
The dismal series was Vettori's first in charge since taking over the reins from Fleming and there will obviously be plenty of interest in how the left-arm spinner is handling the pressure following such a torrid introduction.
"The pressure levels go up tenfold when you take over the captaincy and so do the frustrations because you feel the responsibility is all yours.
You take a lot on yourself and probably the hardest thing is feeling an inability to change things," Vettori admitted.
Mark Gillespie answered the call for early wickets during the morning and the 28-year-old became the fifth New Zealand bowler to take five wickets on debut as the South Africans slipped from 272 for three overnight to 383 all out.
Hashim Amla became the second centurion of the innings following Jacques Kallis and his 103 was his second successive hundred and third against New Zealand.
But Gillespie, more renown as a limited-overs operator, then ran through the lower-order to finish with five for 136.
South Africa were all out on the stroke of lunch and New Zealand were in trouble soon after the restart, with Fleming called into service after just four deliveries, although most observers felt Lou Vincent's lbw decision was ridiculously harsh.
Fleming batted for 138 minutes for his 54, while Scott Styris made 29 and Brendon McCullum 21, but the rest of the batsmen made up the numbers.
There were six more wickets for South Africa's new fast bowling sensation Dale Steyn and he was an obvious choice for the man of the series award, having taken 20 wickets for 184 runs.
He didn't require much assistance on Sunday, or at any other time in the series, with Makhaya Ntini and Kallis each picking up one wicket.
SCOREBOARD
South Africa
First innings
G Smith b Martin 2
H Gibbs b Martin 25
H Amla c Papps b O'Brien 103
J Kallis lbw b Gillespie 131
A Prince c sub b Gillespie 13
AB de Villiers c McCullum b Gillespie 33
M Boucher b Gillespie 1
P Harris c McCullum b Gillespie 0
A Nel lbw b Vettori 25
D Steyn c Papps b O'Brien 25
M Ntini not out 0
Extras (6b, 4lb, 3w, 13nb) 25
Total (all out; 97.3 overs) 383
Fall: 2, 31, 251, 282, 312, 325, 332, 332, 383, 383
Bowling: C Martin 22-6-81-2 (3nb 2w), M Gillespie 30-7-136-5 (5nb), I O'Brien 21.4-6-78-2 (1nb), D Vettori 19.5-2-61-1 (3nb), S Styris 4-0-17-0 (1nb)
New Zealand
First innings 188
Second innings
L Vincent lbw b Steyn 4
M Papps lbw b Steyn 1
S Fleming not out 54
S Styris c De Villiers b Kallis 29
R Taylor run out (Amla) 8
B McCullum c Smith b Steyn 21
D Vettori c de Villiers b Ntini 8
M Gillespie c Kallis b Steyn 0
I O'Brien b Steyn 0
C Martin not out 0
C Cumming absent hurt -
Extras (1b, 9lb, 1nb) 11
Total (all out, 34.3 overs) 136
Fall: 4, 9, 69, 78, 117, 128, 128, 136, 136
Bowling: D Steyn 10.3-1-49-6 (1nb), M Ntini 12-4-39-1, A Nel 7-2-20-0, J Kallis 5-2-18-1
Result: South Africa win by an innings and 59 runs, win series 2-0
Man of the match and man of the series: Dale Steyn
- NZPA
