New Zealand vs South Africa 2017: 1st Test, 5 talking points
Continuous rain on Day 5 forced the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand to a tame draw after four days of exciting action. The game was evenly poised at the end of Day 4 with South Africa leading by 191 runs and having four wickets in hand.
A quick declaration and an attempt to bowl out the Black Caps was expected on Day 5, but rain ruined hopes for both teams at Dunedin. Not a single ball was bowled on Day 5, and the fans are left wondering what would have been the case if play had resumed after a wonderful display of Test cricket thus far.
Dean Elgar, Neil Wagner and Kane Williamson will walk off with proud faces after a brilliant showing in the first Test. All of them, would, however, wonder if their contributions could have been match-winning ones had the game proceeded.
Brief Scores : South Africa 308/10 (Elgar 140, Boult 4/64) and 224/6 (Elgar 89, Wagner 2/57) drew with New Zealand 341/10 (Williamson 130, Maharaj 5/94)
Here we take a glance at the talking points from the 1st Test at Dunedin between South Africa and New Zealand.
#5 Dean Elgar's inspired performance
Fighting fire with fire is Dean Elgar's way of batting. The not so elegant, gritty South African opener showed his teammates the way to bat on a green yet sluggish wicket at Dunedin.
He was boring and left more balls than most South Africans did whole summer, but importantly he got the job done. A brilliant first innings 140 single-handedly led his team to a good total on a difficult pitch against some sharp bowling.
However, when he saw that his team was trailing in spite of his tough innings, he returned to play another crucial knock in the second outing, an 89 against some serious slow bowling from Jeetan Patel. His wicket started a mini-collapse late on day 4 for the visitors.