South Africa 27-2 (Graeme Smith 13, Alviro Petersen unbeaten 8, Chris Martin 2-18) trail New Zealand 185 all out (Brendon McCullum 61, Ross Taylor 44, Vernon Philander 4-70) by 158 runs.

The batting of New Zealand crumbled against the quality bowling of South Africa led by Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn which let them down for 185 in the first innings.

The Kiwis were bowled out for 185 runs in 61.2 overs and South Africa had lost two wickets for 27 runs at the end of the first day’s play.

The second Test of the three match series is being played at Seddon Park, Hamilton form March 15, 2012.

Earlier, Smith won the toss, opted to field and got an early break through when Rob Nicol was caught behind by Mark Boucher off Philander for just two runs. The first wicket fell at 11 as Martin Guptill was bowled by Dale Steyn after the addition of 33 runs in the total.

The experienced duo of Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor joined together and tried to consolidate the innings. The latter was aggressive of the two and sent the loose ball across the ropes quite often as McCullum secured the other end while adding useful runs. The match was interrupted by rain after the fourth ball of the 37^th over at around 1.55 pm and the play resumed at 4.00 pm.

McCullum took over from Taylor and the first hundred of the innings was scored in the 41^st over. The first accomplished his fifty in style after dispatching the first ball of the 45^th over for a six over deep square leg boundary. He tried to accelerate but Jacques Rudolph caught him at the deep square leg off Dale Steyn for 61.

The third wicket contributed 89 runs and the wicket was lost at 133 but the Black Caps got a shock when their skipper went back to the pavilion at the same score for 44 runs. The Proteas’ bowlers, Steyn and Philander became unplayable as the middle order of the home side collapsed and three of their batsmen were unable to open their accounts.

Kruger van Wyk and Mark gave some resistance in the lower order by accumulating 43 runs for the eighth wicket. They added 21 and 27 runs in their individual records as the home side was bowled out for 185 runs while utilising 61.2 overs.

Vernon Philander was the main destructor with four wickets, Dale Steyn held three,  Imran Tahir got two as Morne Morkal claimed one wicket.

South Africa started their innings cautiously with Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen but Chris Martin struck early when the first was gone after scoring 13 as the score board showed 14 runs. The night watchman Steyn became the next victim after the addition of just four runs as Martin skipped with another wicket.

Petersen and Hashim Amla were at the crease with 8 and 2 runs respectively as the total crept to 27 after 11 overs.

The pre lunch session will be important for both teams and whosoever takes the advantage can put their team on top.