South Africa 253 (AB de Villiers 83, Morne Morkal 35, Mark Gillespie 5-59) and 103-1 (Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla unbeaten 55 and 46 respectively) beat New Zealand 185 (Brendon McCullum 61, Ross Taylor 44, Vernon Philander 4-70) and 168 (Kane Williamson 77, Philander 6-44) by 9 wickets.
South African bowlers destroyed the New Zealand batting and won the second Test convincingly by a huge margin of nine wickets.
The batting of the Black Caps collapsed twice in the match as they scored 185 and 168 in two innings respectively. The Proteas scored 253 runs in their first innings and achieved the target of 101 by smashing 103 runs for the loss of just one wicket in their second innings.
The right arm fast bowler, Vernon Philander was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his match haul of 10 wickets.
The second Test came to an end on March 17, 2012 on the third day at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
Earlier, New Zealand started their second innings at 65 for the loss of four key wickets in 31 overs, Kane Williamson and Daniel Vettori were unbeaten on 41 and zero in the order. Philander opened the attack as the batsmen initiated the innings with caution while assembling 21 runs in the first ten overs without losing any wicket and Williamson completed his fifty in the 43rd over.
The visitors got the first breakthrough of the day when Vettori was caught behind by Mark Boucher on the third ball of the 48th over off Jacques Kalis for 21. The fifth wicket fell at 99 runs as Kruger van Wyk joined in with Williamson who was doing well at the other end. The score board was kept moving and the score was enhanced to 141 runs when the home side was jolted with another setback.
Vernon Philander struck back once again as Kane Williamson was caught behind by Boucher again for 77 runs off 193 balls with 10 boundaries. Van Wyk resisted a bit by scoring 20 runs as the whole side was sent back to the pavilion for mere 168 runs in 67. 5 overs.
Philander was once again unplayable and grabbed six wickets for 44 runs in 15.5 overs, Dale Steyn held two as Morne Morkal and Jacques Kallis shared one wicket.
The home side set a target of 101 runs with over two days left in the match and there were no clouds around which could have saved them. They got a lucky escape in the first Test at University Oval, Dunedin when they were facing a defeat but were rescued by rain on March 11, 2012 which was the last day of the match.
South Africa lost the early wicket of Alviro Petersen when he was caught behind by van Wyk off Doug Bracewell for just one runs at the total of five. Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla joined together at the crease as the latter dispatched three fours in the fifth over of Chris Martin. He continued with the aggression and Smith joined him in the race and the flow of runs was speeded up.
Smith achieved his fifty on the third ball of the 19th over and dispatched the winning four on the fifth ball of the next over. He remained unbeaten on 55 off 60 balls with one six and eight fours as Amla was at the crease with 46 from 56 balls which comprised 9 fours.
South Africa demolished New Zealand by a hefty margin of nine wickets and leading the three Test series 1-0. The third and final Test of the series will be played at Basin Reserve, Wellington from March 23, 2012.
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