Du Plessis, seamers put South Africa on top

New Zealand 38 for 3 (Philander 1-10, Steyn 1-18) trail South Africa 481 for 8 dec (du Plessis 112*, Duminy 88, Wagner 5-86) by 444 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball details

Faf du Plessis scored his first century in 17 innings since December 2014 and South Africa’s seamers picked from where they left off in Durban to give the hosts control of the series decider. Du Plessis was one of a quintet of batsmen to cross fifty – only the second time all of South Africa’s top five have done so – as they wore New Zealand out before declaring on a day of toil for the visitors.

The current New Zealand crop have never been kept in the field for more overs than the 154 they were during South Africa’s innings. As a team, they have spent more time on the park eight times before in the first innings, most recently in 1999. The consolation for them was that Neil Wagner claimed his fourth five-wicket haul on his first Test appearance at his former home ground while the rest of the attack went largely luckless. Trent Boult will be particularly envious of the returns the other seamers enjoyed after he went wicketless despite creating numerous chances, beating the bat, finding movement and several edges.

Instead, it was South Africa who reaped reward, as they plucked out New Zealand’s openers early. This time Vernon Philander was in on the action too. He created the first chance when he squared Martin Guptill up with a delivery that straightened from leg stump and took the edge but went over the slips where Stiaan van Zyl was reaching for it. …

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