New Zealand Vs South Africa is the upcoming Test and New Zealand is on the verge of making history. They never won a Test series against South Africa, and last won a Test against South Africa in 2004, before the previous Test. Even a draw will help them seal the series and help correct their terrible record against South Africa. They will push hard for the win though as an eye will be on the WTC points. A win will help them move up the ladder as they are currently sixth. They will also go to the top of the Test rankings and all this will be in the absence of Kane Williamson, Trent Boult and Ross Taylor.
Like New Zealand, South Africa will go to England after this but also have a home Test series against Bangladesh before that. With fixtures lined up and momentum just gathered, South Africa will not want to put a stop to their progress with a defeat in New Zealand.
See Also: Rohit Sharma’s Rocky Journey to Test Captaincy – Cricket Winner
Match: New Zealand Vs South Africa
Date: 25th February 2022
Time: 3:30 AM IST
Venue: Hagely Oval, Christchurch
The lead up to the New Zealand Vs South Africa Test has seen warmer weather while clouds are in the forecast. There is no rain predicted and the weather will be pleasant for batting.
The pitch is likely to be green again which will give the bowlers a lot of opportunities to swing the ball. There is some assistance for the batters as well with less cloud cover in the upcoming game.
New Zealand (possible): 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Will Young, 3 Devon Conway, 4 Henry Nicholls, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Colin de Grandhomme 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Matt Henry
South Africa (possible): 1 Dean Elgar (capt), 2 Sarel Erwee, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Temba Bavuma, 5 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 6 Zubayr Hamza, 7 Wiaan Mulder/Keshav Maharaj, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Kagiso Rabada 10 Duanne Olivier, 11 Lutho Sipamla
South Africa could give a break to Aiden Markram as he has been struggling for a while. In place of him Rickleton may come in and South Africa will also look at their spin options in Mulder and Maharaj.
Trent Boult continues to be out as his bowling workload isn’t enough to put him in consideration for the Test. He has come back from paternity leave but will continue to wait as Matt Henry keeps his place.
Kyle Jamieson
While Matt Henry took career-best figures with seven in the first innings and Tim Southee gave a record-breaking performance of his own, Kyle Jamieson went under the radar. He along with Neil Wagner applied immense pressure on the South Africans and conceded just under two an over. His height helps him extract uncomfortable bounce and his ability to move the ball around while maintaining decent pace leaves him with a strong chance of being a scary pacer for New Zealand.
Kyle Verreynne
The whole line-up struggled in the first Test but Verreynne is likely to be under extra pressure in the upcoming New Zealand Vs South Africa Test. He came in after Quinton De Kock’s retirement and has played a small number of Tests, but is yet to show anything promising. His batting average isn’t too good and he has also conceded a lot of byes, leaving him fighting for his spot as younger keepers wait behind his shoulder.
New Zealand are likely to win the Test match as they are very strong at home. South Africa struggled with the bat but have the talent to fight back. Despite the possibility of a fight back though, South Africa will only be able to compete but not threaten for victory.
Match Prediction: New Zealand will win the match.
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