Cricket round-up: South Africa hammer New Zealand for second time

Dale Steyn

The result had not been in doubt, merely how bad it would be for New Zealand.

As the matter turned out, it was even worse than before.

New Zealand came into this second Test match at Port Elizabeth having lost by an innings and 27 runs in Cape Town. This time South Africa wrapped up a 2-0 series victory by an innings and 193 runs.

New Zealand took the field on the fourth day with their second innings at 157-4, leaving Dean Brownlie (44 not out) and Watling (41 not out) facing the mountainous task of mustering the second half of the batting in an attempt to score the 248 runs needed to avoid a second inning defeat.

Both players reached half-centuries during a solid start to play, but the partnership was broken just two runs short of a century stand when Jacques Kallis had Brownlie caught behind by AB de Villiers for 53.

That left New Zealand on 182-2 but Watling and Colin Munro saw past 200 however, when Munro was out for 15, New Zealand slumped from 203-6 to 211 all out. Watling was the pick of the New Zealand batting with 63, the same score he achieved in the first innings, while Dale Steyn took three of those five wickets to finish with match figures of 8-65.

Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, has returned to the squad for the third and fourth one-day internationals against Sri Lanka.

The series stands at 1-1 after Sri Lanka won the second match at Adelaide on Sunday.

Clarke, along with Matthew Wade and David Warner, is back in contention for Friday's game at the Gabba and the match at Sydney next Sunday.

Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Ben Cutting and Kane Richardson - who all made their debuts in the series - have been stood down, as has all-rounder Steve Smith and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

Paul Wheeler

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