New Zealanders slump to 85-run loss

South Africa A 443 and 106 beat New Zealanders 192 and 272 (Taylor 86, de Wet 3-76, Tsotsobe 3-53) by 85 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

New Zealand's preparations for the two-Test series suffered a major blow when they went down by 85 runs against South Africa A in Potchefstroom. Requiring another 128 runs to win with four wickets in hand, the New Zealanders fell short on the final day of the tour game

Resuming at 230 for 6, much of their chances of victory rested on the overnight pair of Ross Taylor - who started the day on 79 - and Daniel Vettori. However, Friedel de Wet struck in the fifth over of the morning, removing Taylor - caught at gully by Boeta Dippenaar - for 86.

Shane Bond stuck around with his captain Vettori for nearly ten overs, before edging de Wet to second slip. The runs were hard to come by, and although Vettori had strung together two half-centuries in his three previous innings on the tour, it was too much to expect him to put together more than 100 runs with only the tail-end batsmen for company.

The home team, though, were pretty confident of having the match in the bag, with Dippenaar, the captain, employing his part-time bowlers, JP Duminy, Neil McKenzie and Gulam Bodi. Duminy got through the defences of Iain O'Brien in his second over, while Vettori fell in the same fashion to Bodi, handing South Africa A the victory off the last delivery of the 20th over on the final day.

New Zealand have three days to sort out their batting woes before the first Test starts in Johannesburg on November 8.