Gary Kirsten will be keen to make his last Test memorable

Wellington: New Zealand will be bidding to secure their first series victory over South Africa when the third and final Test starts at the Basin Reserve here on Friday.

The hosts are 1-0 up after their nine-wicket victory in Auckland earlier this week and captain Stephen Fleming is adamant his side will not play defensively to seal the triumph.

“There is the temptation to try and protect what we have but I think that provides more problems than solutions,” Fleming said. “The way we’re playing allows us to win Test matches, so if you change this late in the season, I think it would be far too dangerous.”

However, the skipper admitted he could change his tactics if the Test went down to the wire. “If it gets down to Day V and we’re stuck, then I’ll go for safety to win the series,” he said. “It’s a pretty flexible scenario but I think there will be caution towards the end if it’s a case of winning the series.”

Fleming’s South African counterpart Graeme Smith will be desperate to salvage some pride from what has turned out to be a disappointing tour. New Zealand had earlier trounced South Africa 5-1 in the ODI series.

“The tour has been disappointing and we haven’t played the type of cricket we know we can play,” said Smith, whose side’s only victory was in the opening one-dayer. “The guys are motivated. They’ve put a lot of work in on this tour with no reward and are determined to get things right.”

The South African team also wants to give Gary Kirsten a winning send-off.

Opener Kirsten, South Africa’s most prolific Test batsman with 7212 runs, will be playing his 101st and final Test in Wellington.

“We’ve been in a hole and can’t get out of it. Gary Kirsten would like to end on a high note and of course there’s the historical thing... we are the only team not to have been beaten by New Zealand,” Smith said.

He admitted the South African bowlers had been below par for most of the tour. “We’ve struggled to get our line and length right. Things are very different here than at home but it is important for our guys to be able to bowl well on different sorts of pitches.”

Allrounder Shaun Pollock, needing 102 more runs to complete the 300 wickets-3000 runs double, spelt out the recipe for success.

“Each individual has to look at himself and try to improve by a couple of per cent and that gets the whole team up,” Pollock said. “We need one more last push and the guys are motivated to do that.”

The string of defeats have sapped the confidence of the visitors, but former captain Pollock felt the series and tour could still be saved. “We obviously aren’t as happy as we could be about the bowling, there is no hiding from that, but we aren’t happy with our all-around play either,” he said.

New Zealand reached record scores of 509 in Hamilton and 595 in Auckland, and are confident of their ability to bowl out the South Africans, although they have lost strike bowler Daryl Tuffey to injury.

Chris Martin, who took 11 wickets at Eden Park, will spearhead the New Zealand attack. Either Michael Mason or Kyle Mills will take Tuffey’s place in the XI.

TEAMS

New Zealand (from): Michael Papps, Mark Richardson, Stephen Fleming (captain), Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Michael Mason, Chris Martin.

South Africa (from): Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Neil Mckenzie, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Paul Adams, Nicky Boje, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, David Terbrugge.