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New Zealand have taken a massive victory in the first off the back of solid work by Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, and Kyle Jamieson.
South Africa had a strong start with the ball with Tshepo Moreki trapping Devon Conway LBW for one and Dane Paterson getting Tom Latham edging behind to Clyde Fortuin for 20.
Whilst South Africa might have been able to get some early luck to have the home team at 39/2, this would soon be ended with Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson putting on an incredible 232-run stand for the third wicket.
They were able to put pressure on the South African bowlers, however, Ruan de Swardt did get a couple of chances to remove the pair but they were dropped in the outfield.
de Swardt however, got the big wicket of Williamson for a well-made 118 from 289 balls.
Daryl Mitchell joined Ravindra in the middle, who soon had 150 runs to his name and the Blackcaps past the 300-run mark.
Mitchell went soon after he and Ravindra had put on 100 runs together, with Neil Brand getting him caught and bowled for 34.
Tom Blundell couldn’t last long, only making 11 and de Swardt getting a second wicket.
Glenn Phillips was able to accelerate the score with a quick 39 from 42, but it was Ravindra at the other end who was motoring along as he made a first test 200.
He soon was bringing up more accolades with the highest maiden test century score for New Zealand, passing Matthew Sinclair’s 214, and his own first-class highest score of 217.
Phillips went to Brand as he was looking to move the game along. Brand soon had his third, bowling Ravindra for 240.
The wickets kept coming for the South African captain getting Mitchell Santner for two, and finished off with Matt Henry (27 from nine), and Tim Southee for a duck.
The wicket of Henry meant that Brand got his first First Class five-wicket haul in his maiden test. He finished with figures of 6/119.
In reply to New Zealand’s total of 511, the visitors had a good start with the bat through debutants Brand and Ed Moore.
The wicket of Brand fell to Kyle Jamieson for four as he got an edge from a leave. Raynard van Tonder then was gone the second ball to Jamieson for a duck.
Moore could only survive four more overs before he was out to Henry for 23 with the score sitting at 30/3.
Zubayr Hamza and David Bedingham led the fightback for the visitors, but Hamza was bowled by Santner for 22 in the last few overs of the day.
South Africa went into the third day with four wickets down and only 80 runs on the board. The Kiwis managed to strike early with Bedingham for 32 as he tried to play a short ball by Henry. de Swardt was then trapped LBW two balls later.
Clyde Fortuin and Keegan Petersen were able to build some consistency together but were also playing slowly as they tried to get settled.
They added 37 runs for the seventh wicket until Fortuin was out to Southee for nine.
Ravindra broke the stand between Petersen and Duanne Olivier, just as the pair were starting to look confident in the middle. Petersen went for a well-made 45.
From here, Santner and Ravindra got Moreki for five and Dane Paterson for one respectively with South Africa all out for 162.
Santner picked up his 50th test wicket when he had Moreki and this also meant he grabbed his best bowling figures of 3/34.
New Zealand did have the choice between either enforcing the follow-on or choosing to bat again. They chose the option to bat again.
It didn’t go well to start with Paterson trapping Latham LBW for three.
Conway and Williamson were able to build a stand together, but it was more Williamson doing the bulk of the scoring with Conway just using it to get some time out in the middle.
Brand breakthrough with the wicket of Conway as he fell to a quality catch by Moreki in the deep for 29, but it did look like they were told to just go and have a smash near the end of the day.
Ravindra was only able to add 12 runs to the score before falling to de Swardt.
Williamson, however, was motoring along at the other end and became the fifth New Zealander to make a century in both innings of a test match. His 100 also means he moved to 31 test 100s.
He did fall not long after as he was stumped by Fortuin off Brand for 109 from 132.
Mitchell (11*) and Blundell (4*) got New Zealand through to 179/4 when they decided to declare before the start of Day Four.
The Kiwis struck early on the fourth day of the match with Brand being bowled by Southee for three and Moore out to Henry for a duck.
van Tonder and Hamza were able to see South Africa through the rest of the session without further loss.
However, once again for Aotearoa, they managed to grab a couple of quick wickets following the lunch break with van Tonder out to Jamieson for 31 and Hamza also out to Jamieson for 36.
Having got off to a slow start alongside Petersen, Bedingham decided to attack Henry off the 47th over of the innings with a 19-run over before also taking 11 and 17 off two of Southee’s overs not long after.
He was moving closer and closer to an elusive test match 100 but holed out to Santner on the square leg boundary off Jamieson for an excellent knock of 87 from 96.
Petersen fell two overs later for a 63-ball 16.
Fortuin and de Swardt were able to play off both the spin and pace bowlers, but Phillips striking with the wicket of Fortuin for 11 meant he grabbed his first test wicket on New Zealand soil.
Olivier could only last nine balls and add one run to the score before finding himself out to Santner.
Moreki and de Swardt were just looking to defend off the bowlers throughout their stand as they added 15 runs in just under seven overs with Santner causing troubles for them, he grabbed the wicket of Moreki LBW for six.
Paterson came to the crease and struck three fours before finding the hands of Williamson on the boundary to end the game.
New Zealand took a 281 run victory and lead the test series 1-0.
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