Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Verreynne star to put Proteas on the brink of victory in second Test

Day 4 of 5:

South Africa 364 and 354/9 decl.

New Zealand 293 and 94/4

Johannesburg - Kagiso Rabada removed both New Zealand openers to put South Africa on the brink of a series-tying win at Hagley on Monday after Kyle Verreynne’s maiden Test century lit up the first half of the day’s play.

After setting the home team 426 to win, thanks to Verreynne’s unbeaten 136, Rabada, had Will Young caught in the gully off the third ball of the innings and then Tom Latham caught at short leg to start the second over, Keshav Maharaj then bowled Henry Nicholls to put New Zealand firmly in survival mode and later added the wicket of Daryl Mitchell - dismissing him for the second time in the match..

Verreynne’s century gave South Africa a significant advantage after the match was delicately poised at the start of the fourth day. He and Wiaan Mulder grew their sixth wicket partnership to 78 runs by playing aggressively in the first hour.

Verreynne took advantage against anything short, cutting and pulling with authority and looking more confident with the bat than he has at any point in his short Test career. This was a critical innings for him, not just in terms of his own self-belief, but also the match situation. Verreynne started his innings amidst the fury of Neil Wagner’s spell of bouncers on Sunday with South Africa’s lead just 174.

He carefully negotiated that period and on Monday flourished against the older ball, as he and Mulder did more than just keep the Black Caps at bay, but attacked when provided width or the length was short enough for Verreynne to play his favourite shots square of the wicket.

After Mulder fell for 35, thanks to an excellent catch by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, and Marco Jansen was caught by a ridiculous