Nicol and van Wyk Debut, Kiws to Bowl

Dunedin: New Zealand captain Ross Taylor won the toss and sent South Africa in to bat on a rain-shortened opening day of the first Test in Dunedin on Wednesday.

With four hours of playing time lost to the weather, Taylor said he hoped the damp conditions at the University Oval would help the ball move around and produce early wickets.

South Africa are strong favourites to win the three-match series after dominating the home team so far during their first trip to New Zealand in eight years.

The Proteas won the Twenty20 series 2-1 and cruised to a 3-0 whitewash in the one-day matches.

A similar clean sweep in the Test series would see them overtake England as the number one team in the ICC world Test rankings.

Teams:

New Zealand: Rob Nicol, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor (captain), Kane Williamson, Daniel Vettori, Kruger van Wyk (wk), Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Chris Martin, Andrew Ellis (12th man)

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, Mark Boucher (wk), Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Vernon Philander, Marchant de Lange (12th man)

Scores	Upcoming	Results
Australia vs India - 1st Test 1st Test - West Indies v Bangladesh - November 22-26, 14:00 GMT 1st ODI - Zimbabwe v Pakistan - November 24, 07:30 GMT 3rd ODI - Sri Lanka v New Zealand at Kandy No results 3rd T20I - Australia v Pakistan at Hobart Australia won by 7 wickets (with 52 balls remaining)

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