KEY POINTS:
BLOEMFONTEIN - Daniel Vettori led by example when he scored 99 for New Zealand on the first day of a four-day cricket match against a South African Invitation XI at Goodyear Park here today.
The New Zealand captain spent almost three hours at the crease propping up his team's first innings of 318, which they scored after losing the toss and batting first.
Having reached 99 not out, Vettori tried to work a delivery from left-arm paceman Yusuf Abdullah to leg for the magical single.
Instead, the ball popped off the leading edge of his bat and he was caught at mid-on, cutting him short of his fifth first class century.
Two balls later Abdullah, who took four wickets for 81 runs, trapped last man Chris Martin in front to end the innings as well as the day's play.
Scott Styris, however, was satisfied that New Zealand's batsmen had acquitted themselves well enough.
"It was certainly a very spicy wicket with lots of tennis ball bounce, it wasn't easy to bat on," Styris said.
The fact that the Black Caps' last taste of first-class cricket came in the home test series against Sri Lanka in December only added to the challenge.
"It was more a case of adjusting to playing first-class cricket again rather than adjusting to South African conditions," Styris said.
"Of course, we were here just a few weeks ago for the World Twenty20."
That said, Michael Papps (2) and Craig Cumming (12) were the only casualties before lunch.
But the wheels wobbled in the second session, with the dismissals of Stephen Fleming (33), Ross Taylor (12), Styris (29) and Jacob Oram (23) as New Zealand lurched to 126 for six.
Then Brendon McCullum was joined by Vettori in a partnership of 110 to right the innings.
The stand was snuffed out when left-arm fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe clung to a return catch that dismissed McCullum for 46, a flinty innings that featured five fours and a six.
Vettori continued to stand firm with Shane Bond, who scored 28 in a partnership of 57 before Abdullah trapped him leg-before.
A hundred beckoned for Vettori only to be snatched away, but Styris said the captain, like the other members of New Zealand's attack, would be looking forward to the second day.
"Our bowlers would love a day out on the park," Styris said.
"We're just coming out of our winter and we haven't had too many opportunities to practise outdoors."
The first of two tests against South Africa starts in Johannesburg on November 8.
SCOREBOARD
New Zealand
Day one
1st innings
M Papps c Jacobs b Mbhalati 2
C Cumming c Khan b Abdullah 12
S Fleming c Tsolekile b Mbhalati 33
S Styris c Jacobs b Mbhalati 29
R Taylor c de Bruyn b Tsotsobe 12
J Oram lbw b Kent 23
B McCullum c and b Tsotsobe 46
D Vettori c van Wyk b Abdullah 99
S Bond lbw b Abdullah 28
M Mason not out 8
C Martin lbw b Abdullah 0
Extras (1b, 15lb, 3nb, 7w) 26
Total (all out, 87.5 overs) 318
Fall: 19 (Papps), 2-21 (Cumming), 3-76 (Fleming), 4-91 (Taylor), 5-126 (Styris), 6-126 (Oram), 7-236 (McCullum), 8-293 (Bond), 9-318 (Vettori)
Bowling: E Mbhalati 20-8-50-3 (1nb), L Tsotsobe 18-3-62-2 (2nb), Y Abdullah 19.5-4-81-4 (3w), J Kent 16-6-43-1, T Tshabalala 14-1-66-0.
- NZPA
