South Africa 243-7 at lunch on day 2, 3rd test vs. NZ
HAMILTON, New Zealand (AP) — Tom Latham held an astonishing catch at short leg to dismiss Proteas captain Faf du Plessis for 53 as the third cricket test between South Africa and New Zealand remained evenly balanced at lunch on the second day.
South Africa finished the first session of the match that was uninterrupted by the weather at 243-7, with Quinton de Kock 66 and Keshav Maharaj 5.
Latham showed remarkable powers of anticipation as he appeared to sense that du Plessis, who had anchored the South Africa innings with a gritty half century, would play a lap sweep to the third ball bowled in the match by spinner Mitchell Santner.
Before the ball had even pitched, Latham had set off on a dash behind square and when du Plessis went through with the shot, meeting the ball with the full face of the bat, he was shocked to see Latham, still dashing to his right, extend his arm and pluck the ball out of the air.
The catch was one of the best ever seen in a test match in New Zealand, the skill of execution made even more special by the intuition shown by Latham that made it possible.
Latham had already taken a catch at second slip from the bowling of Matt Henry on the first day to remove debuting opener Theunis de Bruyn for a duck. He combined with Henry again Sunday to catch Vernon Philander (11) at second slip, leaving South Africa 219-7. In passing 1,000 test runs, Philander became the sixth South African to acheive the 1,000 run, 100 wicket double in tests.
Henry, who is playing in the series for the first time in the absence of injured fast bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult, had 4-57 at lunch. He led a bold performance by the depleted New Zealand attack in which Colin de Grandhomme had taken 2-51.
Left-arm spinner Santner had to wait 62 overs for his first chance to bowl but needed only three balls to make his first mark on the match with the wicket of du Plessis.
Henry was able to show that there is still some life in the pitch for the faster bowlers, finding slight seam movement throughout the morning and a length that could be challenging on a slowing wicket.
The slowness of the pitch contributed to Temba Bavuma becoming the first South African batsman to fall on Sunday. Bavuma attempted to pull a shorter ball from Henry but was through the shot too soon and, in a dismissal almost as incredible as du Plessis', flicked the ball from the toe end to Jeet Raval at first slip.
South Africa had resumed Sunday at 123-4 after a rain-affected first day on which only 41 overs were bowled. The loss of three wickets for the addition of 120 runs in today's extended morning session kept the match evenly poised.
Run-scoring appeared to be difficult for most players. Hashim Amla had taken 87 deliveries to reach a half century on the first day, before falling for 50, and du Plessis took 94 balls and 141 minutes for his 12th half century in tests.
Wicketkeeper de Kock, batting with an injured finger, was much less restrained and reached his 50 from 66 balls.
