Jacques Kallis carved his name in cricket folklore in New Zealand on Sunday with his fifth century in consecutive Tests, brightening an otherwise uneventful final day of the drawn cricket Test between South Africa and New Zealand.
Displaying supreme application on a wayward pitch, Kallis was unbeaten on 150 when South Africa declared their second innings at 313 for four, leaving New Zealand the improbable target of 264 in less than two hours.
The chase was never on, and when South Africa skipper Graeme Smith cried enough with less than half an hour of scheduled time left, New Zealand were 39 for one.
There were fears the disintegrating pitch would dictate the outcome of the game, with a football-size crater at one end particularly affecting the left-handers.
But while the bowlers, in particular New Zealand spinners Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman, produced acute movement from the pitch, only two wickets fell on the final day which became an exercise in survival and run accumulation.
”Scoring was difficult, it was a hard wicket and really you had to grind it out,” said Kallis who joins Don Bradman as the only players to score centuries in five consecutive Tests.
”It’s a great honour to be in a club like that and I’ll try to get one more in the next Test,” he said, aiming to match Bradman who forged a run of centuries in six successive Tests between 1936 and 1938.
The big South African, who was out for 92 in the first innings, had compiled scores of 158, 177, 130 not out and 130 not out again in consecutive Tests against the West Indies immediately before coming to New Zealand.
The underdog New Zealanders needed to take quick wickets on Sunday if they were to have a chance of winning the match but were thwarted by Kallis and Neil McKenzie at first and then Kallis and Gary Kirsten.
Kallis and McKenzie compiled a 107-run partnership and steered South Africa out of trouble before they were split about 15 minutes before lunch, when McKenzie, who had just brought up his half century, offered a simple bat-pad catch to Mark Richardson off the bowling of Wiseman.
Kirsten then joined Kallis and was 34 not out at the close of the innings. For New Zealand, Wiseman was the most successful bowler with two for 68 off 19 overs.
With the hole in the wicket posing problems for left-handers, New Zealand opted to drop regular top order batsmen and southpaws Mark Richardson and Stephen Fleming down the order and opened with Test debutants Michael Papps and Brendan McCullum.
Papps was the only wicket to fall, edging Andre Nel to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher when on 12 while McCullum ended play not out 19.
South Africa speedster Shaun Pollock needed a wicket off his first ball to complete a hat-trick after removing the last two batsmen in New Zealand’s first innings with consecutive balls, but he overstepped and was no-balled on his opening delivery.
The second Test in the three Test series starts in Auckland next Thursday. – Sapa-AFP