NZ vs SA | 2nd Test | Day 4: Proteas well poised to level series

Dean Elgar’s South Africa are inching closer to an incredible Test match win at Wellington after four days' play. If the visitors can manage to take New Zealand’s final 6 wickets, they will stage an incredible turnaround after losing their first match by an innings and 276 runs.

At the end of fourth day’s play, South Africa needed six wickets to win with 332 runs still in the bank. The task should not be hard for the visitors who have breathed fire with the ball in hand. Kagiso Rabada, already has seven wickets in this game, alongside Marco Jansen who scalped four in the first innings. While the lanky left hander remains wicketless in the second, he would have high hopes from the morning session which might remain quite cloudy on Day 5.

Unlike the rest of the match, which saw momentum shift in almost every phase of the play, Day 4 completely belonged to South Africa. First, it was wicket keeper Kyle Verreynne who scored a century to tilt the scales in favour of the visitors, before Kagiso Rabada blasted his career best 47 off 34 balls to stretch SA’s lead to a mammoth 400+ runs. Verreynne's tempo was crucial for South Africa today after their initial collapse on Day 3, but the batter paced his innings to perfection playing his shots all across the ground. 

He found support in Wiaan Mulder who scored 35 off 91 before getting out to Kyle Jamieson. The partnership between the two of them lasted over 30 overs essentially setting the tone for the rest of the day. The hosts got tired and a late onslaught by Rabada turned out to be a mood killer for the Kiwi who would have hoped to take the game away from the visitors.

Coming into bowl, Rabada continued from here he left off in the first innings, dismissing the openers yet again in this Test match. Rabada was too much to handle for the openers as he edged one back to gully and removed the captain by trapping him at short leg. However, Rabada was not the best bowler on the day as Keshav Maharaj rewarded the SA thinktank by bowling two absolute rippers to Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell, shattering the stumps on both occasions.

As it stands, the Kiwis are down by four wickets for 94 runs and need to chase down a record score in the history of Test cricket to win the game. At the end of day’s play they have Devon Conway batting at 60 off 127 balls alongside Tom Blundell at 1 off 17. They pitch has already shown signs that one is rewarded for playing their shots here, but it is unlikely that NZ will try to chase this down. With centurion from the first innings, Colin de Grandomme still to come, NZ will be hoping for a little help from the weather if they are to force their opposition to a draw in the final day.