New Zealand defeated an understrength South Africa team by 281 runs in the first Test at Mount Maunganui to move above Australia and India to the top of the World Test Championship (WTC) standings. New Zealand currently ranks first in the WTC standings with 66.66% of points. Tim Southee’s side now have a good chance of qualifying for next year’s WTC finals. They are firm favorites to win the next Test and hold the two-match series 2-0 against a South African side that featured as many as six debutants in the first Test. Most of South Africa’s frontline cricketers are unavailable for this series due to date clashes with SA20.
Kane Williamson’s double hundred and Rachin Ravindra’s double ton put New Zealand in the driver’s seat ahead of the fourth day of play, with spinner Mitchell Sang Supported by Mitchell Santner, pacer Kyle Jamieson helped the home team to a dominant victory.
With clouds gathering over the beautiful Bay Oval, Jamieson batted twice after lunch and dismissed David Bedingham (87) and Keegan Peterson (16) for the final game Sets the tone.
Chasing 529 runs, South Africa eventually failed by 247 runs, with Santner taking the last wicket of Dane Paterson.
New Zealand, winners of the inaugural WTC 2021, have played just three Test matches in the current WTC cycle. They drew 1-1 with Bangladesh at the end of last year.
Last year’s champions Australia (55) dropped to second after the result at Bay Oval, India (52.77) dropped to third, South Africa dropped to seventh, below fourth-placed Bangladesh, and Pakistan Five, West Indies sixth.
However, India and England have a good chance of changing their rankings in the coming weeks. They are currently playing a five-match series in India. England won the first Test at Hyderabad to take a 1-0 lead, but India fought back with a strong 106-run stand to chase the deficit to 1 in the next Test at Visakhapatnam -1.
The next three Tests will be crucial for India. They hope to win at least two of those games to have a chance to compete for a third World Trade Center title. They’re gearing up for a tough Australian tour before the end of the year. The third Test will begin on February 15 in Rajkot.
