South Africa have the ascendancy after the 1st Day

Despite a spirited showing by the New Zealand bowlers, South Africa managed to end Day 1 in control with 325 runs on the board for the loss of only four wickets. Hashim Amla is not out on 106*, while at the other end Faf du Plessiss is 69*. These two picked up where Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers left off who made 54 and 51 respectively. Credit though has to go the New Zealand bowlers who managed to stop Smith and AB from going on, as well as getting the early breakthroughs of Petersen for 21 and Kallis for 8. Doug Bracewell picked up 2 wickets for the visitors while Wagner and Patel managed 1 apiece.

Overall it was a great day for South Africa but they still need to remain focused to get a large total of around 500. New Zealand need to come out firing in the first session and pick up the early wickets of Amla and Faf as otherwise, any chance they have of winning the test match will be gone.

Full scorecard of the 1st day's play is here on Cricinfo
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-new-zealand-2012/engine/current/match/567357.html