Big win leaves New Zealand with seam bowling conundrum

New Zealand duly completed a 211-run victory over Border in East London on Monday, but ended the match possibly not a great deal closer knowing the composition of their seam attack for the second Test match against South Africa starting in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

With Chris Martin resting a stomach strain for this game, Andrew Penn, Daryl Tuffey and Kerry Walmsley all had chances to press their claims for Test places. Tuffey, the man in possession, bowled like a drain in the Border first innings, but came back to take four wickets after lunch on the last day to finish with five for 69 as the home side were bowled out for 212.

Penn, meanwhile, looked the part in taking five for 38 in the Border first innings, but left the field after nine overs on Monday with a recurrence of an earlier side strain. And Walmsley, who took one for 0 and two for 24, looked handy throughout without doing anything startling.

Assuming Martin is fit to go into the Test with Shayne O'Connor - he will be given a full workout in the nets to see how he stands up to it - then the third seamer's berth is likely to come down to a straight choice between Penn and Tuffey.

"Andrew left the field with an aggravation to a previous injury," said New Zealand coach David Trist after the match, "but it's precautionary. We'll give him a 24-hour period to assess the extent of the damage. It was really to give him every chance of selection for the second Test."

If this sounded like Penn had his nose in front, Trist underlined it by discussing Tuffey's performances. "The word `indifferent' reflects the stages that at times Daryl goes through. He bowls some particularly good balls and then some balls that perhaps are a little disappointing. We're working on trying to get greater consistency of pace and line."

Translated, this probably means that Tuffey bowls complete rubbish at times, either rolling it in or spraying it all over the place when he strives for extra pace. There are moments, though, when he looks a half-decent bowler, the problem being that New Zealand don't know from one spell to the next which Tuffey is going to run in to bowl.

On balance, you'd imagine that New Zealand will opt for Penn if he is fit with Brooke Walker providing leg spin and Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle to bowl seam up when necessary.

Most of the New Zealand had a reasonable hit against a generally innocuous Border attack over the three days, but it is not the batting that is the tourists' concern. With no one quite sure how St George's Park will play for this Test match (it's seamed, swung, played low, taken spin and occasionally died over the past couple of years), New Zealand would probably be best served by picking four specialist bowlers they can trust to last the distance. Whether this means a place for Tuffey is anyone's guess at this point.