South Africa beat New Zealand by eight wickets to win the first Test of the three-match series at Wellington on Saturday, thanks to left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj’s six-wicket haul.
New Zealand had bowled South Africa out for 359 in their first innings, with the Proteas taking a lead of 91 runs. In the second innings, the hosts lost opener Tom Latham early for 6 while captain Kane Williamson also was back to the pavilion for a single run. The Kiwis then stumbled to 90/5 with Jeet Raval being the only batsman to reach 50 runs.
The wrecker-in-chief was Keshav Maharaj, who eventually got Raval stumped on 80 to make it 155/6. The last five wickets then fell within 16 runs with Maharaj ending with figures of 6/40. Morne Morkel also took three crucial wickets with Kagiso Rabada taking the last wicket of Jeetan Patel.
South Africa needed 81 runs in their second innings to seal the match and they knocked the target down within 25 overs. They lost openers Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar in the chase, but Hashim Amla and Jean-Paul Duminy took the visitors to a well-deserved win. The next Test match will be played at Hamilton on March 25.
Brief scores: South Africa 359 all out & 83/2 (Hashim Amla 38 not out) beat New Zealand 268 and 171 (Jeet Raval 80, Keshav Maharaj 6/40) by eight wickets
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