South Africa are in New Zealand, the first of two test matches gets under way at Hagley Oval, Christchurch on Thursday and although the Proteas have an excellent record against the Black Caps, the home side start as favourites.
Let's begin with the squads.
Kane Williamson is out injured and the Black Caps will be skippered by Tom Latham, Trent Boult will also miss the first test.
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Colin de Grandhomme, Cam Fletcher (wk), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Blair Tickner, Neil Wagner, Will Young
Keegan Petersen is out after a positive Covid test, Zubayr Hamza gets a call up and the Proteas will select from the following squad.
South Africa: Dean Elgar (captain), Temba Bavuma (vice-captain), Sarel Erwee, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Zubayr Hamza
Recent Form
New Zealand
New Zealand hosted Bangladesh in the new year and they were on the wrong end of a shock result in the first test, going down by 8 wickets. They squared the series with an innings and 117 run victory in the second and final contest which was staged at Hagley Oval.
At the tail end of 2021 the Black Caps were in India for a 2 match series and they drew a thrilling first test before losing the second match by 372 runs.
Earlier last year New Zealand won a 2 match series in England 1-0 prior to beating India in the one off World Test Match final.
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South Africa
The Proteas hosted India in a 3 match series over Christmas and New Year and although they lost the first test by 113 runs they fought back for a series win, winning the second match by 7 wickets and the decider by the same margin.
Before the series at home to India the Proteas hadn't been in test match action since the middle of the 2020 when they comfortably won both tests against the West Indies in the Caribbean.
Recent Head to Head
The most recent meeting came in 2017 in New Zealand and the Proteas won a 3 match series 1-0.
Over the course of the last decade 10 test match head to heads (any venue) have delivered 5 wins for the Proteas and 5 draws.
You have to go back to March 2004 for New Zealand's last win over the Proteas in this format.
Hagley Oval, Christchurch
Over the course of the last decade NZ have played 9 test matches at this venue, winning 7, drawing 1 and losing to Australia back in 2016.
In January this year NZ squared the series against Bangladesh with an innings and 117 run victory. Tom Latham hit 252 and Devon Conway made 109 in their first innings total of 521/6. Bangladesh were bowled out for 126 and 278.
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The Betting - 1st Test Match
At the time of writing New Zealand are 8/10 to win the match with the draw at 7/2 and South Africa are 13/5
Devon Conway and Tom Latham are both 5/2 to top score for the Black Caps in the first innings and Dean Elgar is 11/4 to do likewise for South Africa
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
The Proteas were excellent in coming back against India and with no Williamson or Boult in the NZ line up in Christchurch they could be competitive but it still looks a very tough task.
Rassie van der Dussen is my go to man to top score for the Proteas in the first knock and given he was Man of the Match in the most recent test at Hagley Oval
Tom Latham earns the vote to put in another big performance.
Bets: Top SA Run Scorer 1st Innings van der Dussen at 7/2
Man of the Match Tom Latham at 7/1
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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