South Africa v New Zealand

South Africa's captain McGlew, who again won the toss, played with a fractured finger at the special request of the selectors. On this occasion he had the satisfaction of seeing an improvement in the batting.

Barlow, the opening bat, appeared to be finding his feet and displayed more aggression than we had seen at the start of an innings for many years and with Waite -- 101 in three and a quarter hours -- helped to lay a sound foundation to the innings.

Rain restricted play to seventy-five minutes on the opening day when 80 runs were scored for the loss of McGlew's wicket. Cameron came back and, with four cheap wickets, altered the picture.

At this stage the innings appeared to be crumbling but fortunately for the Springboks the lower half of the batting restored the balance.

New Zealand tried a new opening pair, only to meet the same fate when Lawrence gained an early success. The Rhodesian had a great match, and in 30 overs captured eight for 53 to register the finest performance by any South African pace bowler in seventy-three years of Test cricket.

Dowling courageously held the fort for four hours, his only support coming from Reid and the rapidly improving fast bowler, Gary Bartlett.

A sporting declaration by McGlew after an excellent spell of swing bowling by Motz on the final day left the New Zealanders to get 278 in four hours.

Dowling played another good innings without being able to find an opening colleague. At the fall of the second wicket a determined Reid promptly attacked the bowling and, when time was called, was in full cry for another century with the sights firmly set on the target. The loss of the four and three-quarter hours on the first day undoubtedly robbed the match of an exciting finish.