Sport

[Videos] Skipper Neil Brand: South Africa keep
grinding

Dudley Carstens|Published

Six-wicket haul: SA’s Neil Brand. Picture: supplied

Proteas captain Neil Brand took six wickets on debut for South Africa in the first Test against New Zealand, yet he has very little to smile about in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Such has been his team’s baptism of fire that even bowling figures of 6/119 on the second day of the match couldn’t lift the gloom surrounding his team, as New Zealand klapped 511 all out in their first innings.

Rachin Ravindra got a helse 240 of those runs, with Kane Williamson notching up 118.

Brand, who eventually clean bowled Ravindra, and his teammates then had the chance to redeem themselves with bat in hand.

But with six debutants in their lineup because the “stars” are playing in the SA20, SA crumbled to 80/4 at the end of the second day.

Brand says of their performance thus far: “It’s been a tough grind for us. We didn’t expect anything less, they batted really well…

“All in all, it’s been a tough two days of cricket, but I still feel that we can do something special here.”

South Africa were set to resume their innings at 12am this morning, with Brand (4), Edward Moore (23), Raynard van Tonder (0) and Zubayr Hamza already back in the hut (22).

David Beddingham (29*) and Keagan Petersen (2*) were at the crease at the close of play on Day Two.

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