South Africa completed an emphatic series whitewash over New Zealand as they won the second Test by a massive innings and 193 runs in Port Elizabeth, before lunch on day four.
The new ball bowlers made light work of the tail after Jacques Kallis broke the partnership between Dean Brownlie and BJ Watling. The duo had put on 98 together, and both recorded half centuries in what was always a losing cause.
After Brownlie was sent packing by the all-rounder’s golden arm, the rest of the order tumbled once Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel had the new cherry in hand. From 203 for six, they were all out for 211 with still 45 minutes to go before lunch.
The Black Caps started the day on 157 for four, and the batsmen looked relatively comfortable and played their shots. Watling was once again the stand-out player for the Kiwis, recording his second half century of the match.
Brownlie, one of the few bright lights for the visitors in this series, added to his 109 in the first Test with a well-played 53 off 141 balls, but he could not resist going after a wider Kallis ball and was caught by AB de Villiers.
Watling fell soon after, clean bowled by Steyn for 63. The ball nipped away off the new seam and scraped past the Durban-born batsman’s outside edge, hitting the top of off-stump.
Another Durbanite, debutant Colin Munro, came in and made a rapid 15, but also fell victim to temptation and was caught in the slips by Alviro Petersen off Morne Morkel. Petersen also accounted for Doug Bracewell for a duck, bowled by Steyn.
Trent Boult and Neil Wagner added just seven runs between them as the fast bowlers wrapped up the match, with Jeetan Patel unbeaten at the non-striker’s end when Steyn accounted for another former South African, Wagner.
South Africa will be pleased with their first series whitewash since 2008, when they demolished Bangladesh, but much like that series, they won’t put too much stock in it as the opposition were hardly testing.
But it bodes well for the upcoming month, which sees Pakistan visit South Africa for a three Test series. Before that though, the Black Caps must still endure a three-ODI series, starting on 19 January in Paarl.
