Shootout at Centurion

26 August 2016 - 10:01 By TELFORD VICECenturion

New Zealand, in the words of fast bowler Trent Boult yesterday, find it "exciting" that their Test series in SA will come down to a shootout at the Centurion corral. After the rain-ruined first Test at Kingsmead their coach, Mike Hesson, was also "excited" at the prospect of a winner-takes-all game.But, for SA captain Faf du Plessis, it was "disappointing" to have series honours on the line in one match - an opinion echoed yesterday by Vernon Philander and Temba Bavuma.Does this difference between the teams tell us which of them will be hungrier to win when the first ball is bowled tomorrow?Perhaps, just as it suggests which of them have more confidence in their current form.Before the Kingsmead match SA had won only one of their previous 10 Tests. New Zealand had been victorious in five of their last 10 games.New Zealand are No5 in the rankings and SA have dropped to seventh. A draw at Centurion would see the teams hold those positions, as would a New Zealand victory. Should SA win they will rise to sixth.But even though SA had New Zealand in early trouble on 15/2 when the weather ended proceedings in Durban, it wouldn't have helped the home side's self-belief that they had been bowled out for 263."A chance to play SA in a one-off test is very exciting," Boult said. "Hopefully if we can put things together we can look at a series win."But Bavuma was on the other side of that fence: "It's nice to play a three or four-match series where you really get to test your skills and temperament."With a one-off Test anyone can win. Whoever's skill is good enough over those five days will get a favourable result."For Philander, a sudden-death Test "becomes the be-all and end-all"."We are going to give it our best shot," Philander said. "Hopefully we'll come out tops."..

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