Cricket: Coin flips right but it all goes wrong for Fleming

Stephen Fleming at last proved he could win the coin toss but his New Zealand cricket teammates were probably wishing he hadn't in Auckland today.

Another mammoth Graeme Smith-Herschelle Gibbs double act and a mediocre first two sessions from the New Zealand bowlers saw South Africa take control of the second test to the tune of 231 for two by the end of the opening day today.

Captain Smith and Gibbs snatched control in the first four hours, racking up 177 for the first wicket for their sixth century partnership from 32 test innings together.

Mercifully, a strong final session from all the pacemen after a double breakthrough from a fired up Chris Cairns and the recalled Chris Martin saved face for the Black Caps.

Just 54 runs were scored off the final 32 overs as the second new ball played some tricks and South Africa didn't hammer home their dominant position.

Ominously, New Zealand's big headache, Jacques Kallis, survived some edgy moments to be on 39 off 104 balls and on track to equal Sir Don Bradman's record of centuries in six consecutive tests.

Fleming could barely suppress his grin when Smith's call of heads proved incorrect -- just the second of nine tosses Fleming has won this tour -- but the damp Eden Park portable pitch offered few terrors.

Expected to seam around early then dry into a top batting surface, it was quickly clear that batting wasn't treacherous and early thoughts of a drawn test loomed.

"I honestly thought we'd get a window of opportunity by bowling first, it wasn't as big as we'd hoped. I was disappointed we didn't extract more out of it," Fleming said, admitting later he was fooled by the cold, damp surface.

"Our bowlers searched a bit hard trying to find more and we lost our lines and lengths."

Smith was lethal off his pads and Gibbs hammered anything loose, including a massive six off Cairns over mid wicket.

Few deliveries went past the bat and the home side had to wait until the 56th over before their first real chance, when Craig McMillan missed a run out of Smith from point blank range.

When the usually reliable Jacob Oram dropped a friendly chance offered by Gibbs on 78 the home side's shoulders drooped lower, but three balls later Cairns snuck one past Gibbs' outside edge to finally end the stand.

Gibbs' 80 came off 172 balls and included 13 fours and a six.

The big bonus came for New Zealand from the first ball after tea when Smith, 12 short of a century, tried to force Martin to leg and was adjudged leg before wicket by umpire Asoka de Silva.

Cairns then sent down eight consecutive overs in a desperate bid to become the 44th player to reach 200 test wickets, but despite his probing spell the two Jacques' stood firm.

Jacques Rudolph spent 52 minutes and 33 balls anchored on nought and while Kallis raced to 24 off 39 balls before scoring his next 15 off 65 as Daryl Tuffey and Oram kept the brakes on.

"It was an amazing last session to only go for 50-odd runs with two wickets down," Fleming said.

"It's phenomenal really, I'm not sure if we were outstanding or whether it's a little bit strange tactically."

Both captains were again perplexed by the drop-in pitch which will be a lottery early tomorrow with morning moisture.

Smith was satisfied with the day's work despite the final session crawl, although his words seemed to echo the frustration he felt in the first test in Hamilton, which ended in a draw on Sunday.

"You can add on about another 50 runs on that. The number of times you hit the ball and it just plugs when you think you've got four, and the outfield's slow," he said.

"There's not a lot of pace to hit through the ball. When Jacques Kallis tells you he's struggling to drive the ball then you know it's slow."

SCOREBOARD

South Africa

First innings

G Smith lbw b Martin 88

H Gibbs b Cairns 80

J Rudolph not out 14

J Kallis not out 39

Extras (8lb, 1nb, 1w) 10

Total (for 2 wkts, 90 overs) 231

Fall: 177 (Gibbs), 177 (Smith).

Bowling: D Tuffey 19-6-28-0 (1w), C Martin 19-4-61-1 (1nb), J

Oram 18-3-39-0, C Cairns 15-4-43-1, S Styris 14-5-37-0, D Vettori

5-1-15-0.

- NZPA