Cricket: Poor conditions dominate day

Overnight rain delayed the start of play and bad light finished it early on day one of the third and final cricket test between South Africa and New Zealand at the Basin Reserve today. Wellington's wet weather during the week meant the popular cricket venue had a damp outfield and conditions weren't suitable for the players when they arrived at the ground. Regular umpire inspections of the pitch during the morning produced minimal joy until the 12.30pm viewing allowed the men in white coats to declare a toss would take place at 1.30pm and play would start half an hour later. New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor won the coin flip and put the visitors in to bat on a surprisingly hard-looking Basin Reserve deck. There was early joy for the Kiwis as Doug Bracewell removed South African skipper Graeme Smith when he only had five runs next to his name. Smith reviewed the decision and despite the replays being inconclusive as to whether he did feather it through to wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk, Smith _ playing his 99th test _ was sent on his way. New Zealand's celebrations were muted shortly after as South African run machine Hashim Amla carved out his 23rd test match half century, while Alviro Petersen crawled along and fed off scraps. The opening session saw South Africa enjoy a cup of tea with the score at 103-1 after an opening stanza of play that saw patches of drizzle threaten to delay proceedings further. Shortly after the tea break Wellington's Mark Gillespie dismissed Amla when the right-hander top-edged a mundane-looking short ball and van Wyk produced a safe pair of hands under the catch. Daniel Vettori was introduced to the bowling attack early for New Zealand and was his economical self but he failed to claim any wickets from his 11 overs, which conceded only 28 runs. New Zealand went in to the test light on bowling, with Gillespie backed up in the seam department by Bracewell and veteran Chris Martin. The decision to play extra batting cover saw the return to the playing XI of Daniel Flynn and Dean Brownlie for the home side. Brownlie was given a brief stint with the ball too, but when his two overs of medium pace disappeared for 20 runs he was promptly yanked from the attack by Taylor. South Africa made two changes from the side that hammered New Zealand by nine wickets in the second test in Hamilton last weekend as Jacques Kallis (stiff neck) and Imran Tahir dropped out. Kallis was replaced by JP Duminy, while pace bowler Marchant de Lange was preferred to the leg spin of Tahir. As the conditions continued to worsen, Petersen (44) and Duminy (23) remained unbeaten at the crease and the players trotted off the park just before 5.30pm due to bad light as South Africa finished on 136-2. Play was then officially called off for the day at 6pm, with only 42 overs being bowled. New Zealand, who are down 1-0 in the series, will hope for more play during the next four days as they bid to pull a game back and square the ledger.