HAMILTON, New Zealand (AP) New Zealand's depleted bowling attack enjoyed early success before South Africa rallied to reach 71-3 at lunch Saturday on the first day of the third cricket test.
Hashim Amla was 38 not out and captain Faf du Plessis 6 not out at the break.
For the first time in five years New Zealand went into a test without both of their senior fast bowlers, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, who are injured. In their place Matt Henry, playing for the first time in the three-match series, shared the new ball with medium pacer Colin de Grandhomme while Neil Wagner reverted to the role of third seamer.
Henry and de Grandhomme both had success in their first spells, removing debutant Theunis de Bruyn (0) and Dean Elgar (5) respectively to leave South Africa 5-2.
Amla and J.P. Duminy combined in a 59-run partnership which lifted the Proteas to 64-3 before Henry returned to dismiss Duminy (20) soon before lunch. That wicket gave New Zealand the upper hand in the session after South Africa had won the toss.
Du Plessis admitted the decision to bat was a 50-50 call on a Seddon Park pitch that didn't easily give up its secrets. The test strip was a greyish-brown, flecked by tufts of grass, and appeared soft but likely to become dusty with long exposure to the sun.
Du Plessis' decision was presumably influenced by the fact New Zealand's attack was substantially weakened by the loss of Southee to a hamstring strain and Boult to a hip and groin strain. There seemed a chance against a relatively lightweight attack for the Proteas to establish a strong position in a match they only need to draw to win the series.
There was also the likelihood of the pitch taking spin later on. Similar pitches at Seddon Park provided extreme turn in the two one-day matches between New Zealand and South Africa at the ground earlier this month.
Still, South Africa had cause to question its own decision to bat first when Henry and de Grandhomme took early wickets.
De Bruyn, named for test debut in place of out-of-form opener Stephen Cook, had faced only three balls when he felt for a delivery from Henry outside off stump and edged a catch to Tom Latham at second slip.
Five balls later Elgar shouldered arms to a delivery from de Grandhomme which pitched on a good length and, without deviating, hit off stump. The ball was sharply angled in at the left-hander who seemed to expect the ball to bounce more than it did as it struck the top of off stump.
Amla and Duminy helped settle the innings and had almost put South Africa on top when Duminy attempted to pull a short ball from Henry and top-edged a catch to Jeetan Patel at fine leg.
Lunch was taken six minutes early because of light rain, which also caused a 30 minute delay to the start.
