Johannesburg - The Proteas remain hopeful that the Hagley Oval pitch will deteriorate, despite weather forecasts for the next few days in the climax of the second Test, not favouring such a development.
Rassie van der Dussen said on Sunday that the pitch - a different strip to the one used last week - while drier than for that first Test, was still playing very well.
“We hope it deteriorates late on day four and then day five so that our spinner can come into the game,” van der Dussen commented after another enthralling day’s play.
South Africa take a 211-run lead into the fourth day on Monday with five second innings wickets still in hand. Temperatures for the remainder of the match are forecast to be less than 20 degrees celsius, with heavy cloud cover and some rain on Tuesday.
Although South Africa’s spinner Keshav Maharaj, did get one delivery to grip, bounce and spin sharply late on day two, there wasn’t anything similar on Sunday. It was a risky selection on the touring team’s part given the history of Hagley Oval, which has not aided spin, and which actually gets better for batting the longer the game continues. However Maharaj provided excellent control in New Zealand’s first innings, while also claiming the crucial wicket of Daryl Mitchell.
Van der Dussen said South Africa would be pleased with a fourth innings target in the region of 300 runs.
“The one I got out to, the ball just sat up on that short length which (suggests that) if the wicket becomes two-paced, it will make batting really tricky. Temba (Bavuma) went out caught cover which is not a dismissal that is normal for him - I think the ball just stuck a bit in the wicket. That's a good sign for us. If it goes sideways and stops a little, it becomes tricky to score - not always tricky to survive, but tricky to score.”
Van der Dussen and Bavuma were both victims of an energetic spell from Neil Wagner that kept New Zealand in the game in a tense final session of play on Sunday.
Having taken a 71-run lead on the first innings, Van der Dussen and Bavuma shared a vital partnership of 65 runs after South Africa had been reduced to 42/3 at tea.
“I ran out of luck there - Wagner bowled a brilliant spell, with those short ones,” said Van der Dussen who scored 45.
“They have world class bowlers who don’t give you much, so from a personal point of view, maybe I was a bit more streaky than I usually play, but I had to put some pressure on them.”
Kyle Verryeyne on 22 and Wiaan Mulder on 10 will resume on Monday with Van der Dussen hoping the pair can bat through the first session against a New Zealand attack that has bowled a lot of overs in the first three days.
“Their bodies will be sore, they’ve bowled 40 overs in three days which is a lot,” he remarked.
“If we can emulate what we did in the first innings with the tail-enders and get to the 300-run mark, mentally that will be good for us. You have to give Keshav a chance to really get into the game and then our seamers can run in with short bursts and hopefully the wicket will deteriorate further for our spinner to get into the game.”