Fleming leads New Zealand fight for survival

Fleming leads New Zealand fight for survival
Agence France Presse

Bloemfontein, November 20: New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming hit his second half-century of the match as his team battled to avoid defeat on the fourth day of the first Test against South Africa at Springbok Park on Monday.

At tea, New Zealand were 214 for four in their follow on innings, needing just 28 more runs to make South Africa bat again.

Fleming followed up his 57 in the first innings with an unbeaten 74. Fellow lefthander, opener Mark Richardson, made a solid 77 as the New Zealanders showed determination on a good batting pitch.

Fast bowler Allan Donald, who Sunday became the 15th bowler in Test history to take 300 wickets, added two more Monday and was South Africa’s most dangerous bowler.

Donald dismissed Matthew Sinclair in his first spell of the day, with the help of a spectacular diving catch at gully by Lance Klusener, and trapped Richardson leg before wicket with a full-pitched delivery immediately after lunch.

Richardson batted for more than four hours and faced 186 balls, hitting eight fours.

Fleming and Craig McMillan survived a crucial spell against Donald and Shaun Pollock with the second new ball, which was taken with New Zealand on 182 for four, with McMillan yet to score after Makhaya Ntini bowled Nathan Astle in the 78th over, two overs before the new ball was taken.

It took McMillan 31 balls to score his first runs, when he edged Donald wide of the slips for four.

Fleming reached his 50 off 133 balls with five fours and had faced a total of 168 deliveries by the tea interval.

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st innings): 471-9 decl.
New Zealand (1st innings): 229

New Zealand (2nd innings): M Richardson lbw b Donald 77, C Spearman c McKenzie b Ntini 15, M Sinclair c Klusener b Donald 20, S Fleming (batting) 74, N Astle b Ntini 8, C McMillan (batting) 10, Extras (lb6, nb4) 10, Total (for 4 wkts in 90 overs) 214.
Fall of wickets:1-33, 2-93, 3-145, 4-175.

Bowling: Donald 19-9-33-2, Pollock 17-6-36-0, Ntini 15-6-37-2, Kallis 12-1-51-0, Boje 21-5-42-0, Klusener 6-2-9-0.