Cricket: Philander mows down fragile batting

Vernon Philander celebrates taking the wicket of Kane Williamson yesterday. Photo / Getty Images

Formidable bowling from Vernon Philander, fragile batting from New Zealand and frustration at the wag of the South African batting tail all helped sculpt the Proteas' nine wicket victory in the second test at Hamilton.

Philander's presentation of the seam was exemplary and often left the New Zealanders in two minds when he pitched the ball on, or just short of, a length outside off stump. Rob Nicol, Kruger van Wyk, Chris Martin (all bowled), Kane Williamson and Mark Gillespie (both caught behind) and Brendon McCullum (lbw) succumbed to Philander's skill in the second innings.

The 26-year-old took his second 10-wicket bag and earned his third man-of-the-match award in a six-test career with 10 for 114 from 30.5 overs. His nagging accuracy meant only one of his 10 wickets - Ross Taylor, caught by Smith in the first innings - involved a fielder other than wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.

Philander has manufactured quite a CV. He has taken 45 wickets at an average of 13.60. If he takes five wickets in the third test at Wellington, he will become the second-fastest test cricketer to take 50 test wickets behind Australian Charlie "Terror" Turner who took just six tests when he completed the feat in 1888 - and equalling the feat of England's Thomas Richardson in 1896.

So Philander has attained a place in the game unique in modern cricket - the game was very different 124 years ago - and maybe some of the New Zealand batsmen can take solace in that.

"He's getting the ball to talk in the right areas," skipper Graeme Smith said. "In my career, the only person I have seen who resembled that was Glenn McGrath."

Philander remains phlegmatic about his success but admits he's made subtle adjustments to what he was doing back home against Australia and Sri Lanka.

"When it comes to length, I'm bowling a bit shorter. The wickets here are slower and I'm getting more reverse swing with the older ball."

While the bowling was unquestionably good, New Zealand's flaky test batting continued. Williamson showed steel with 77 in four hours and 13 minutes but he was out straight after lunch.

Bar a handful of Gillespie boundaries, the innings destructed immediately.

It was Williamson's fourth test half century. His response to reaching the milestone was telling, raising his bat reluctantly as he focused on the awkward task ahead: Getting New Zealand back into the game.

"At seven for three, a lot of guys wouldn't have handled it as well as Kane did when he came out to bat," New Zealand captain Ross Taylor said.

The rest of the top six made just 45 more runs. That means the luxury of batting Daniel Vettori at No 6 and having four pace bowlers is waning.

Smith says they're targeting that approach as a weakness for the third test.

"They take a risk batting Dan [Vettori] at six. They play five specialist bowlers; that's an aggressive option which weakens their batting. We want to get in and exploit that tail. We did that well in this game."

Nicol struggled as an opener and may be lucky to survive for the Wellington test if Dean Brownlie's finger passes muster batting tomorrow for Canterbury. There is not much else that can be done to help the top order other than bringing in a specialist batsman at six and pushing Vettori to seven. Taylor has ruled out McCullum returning to open but says there could be changes to the top order when the third test team is named this afternoon.

Under coach (and now selector) John Wright, New Zealand has played eight tests (two each against Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Australia and South Africa). On five occasions the batsmen have failed to pass 300 in the first innings. The exceptions were twice against Zimbabwe and once against Pakistan.

They have passed 250 just once in five completed second innings. Regular batting deficiencies are evident.

One saving grace for the hosts was dismissing South Africa for 253 in the first innings to match their 238 in Dunedin. Gillespie was an inspired selection and caused the South African batsmen problems with his pace and penetration, as did Martin to a lesser degree.

However, only Alviro Petersen is yet to pass 50 from the South Africa top order in the series. When others fail, someone else tends to step up.

New Zealand will also rue a missed opportunity with South Africa 185 for eight in the first innings. The visitors added a further 68 runs with Morne Morkel blasting 35 at No 10 in combination with AB de Villiers' accumulation and Imran Tahir's brisk 16.