De Villiers gets caught off a six

It looked like it would turn into a long afternoon for UAE after Hashim Amla struck two fours in his first four deliveries and the bowlers seemed to quickly realise they may need to resort to something else to get him out. Mohammad Naveed delivered a wild full toss at full throttle that followed Amla as he overbalanced. He was hit on the wrist and immediately wrung the hand in pain and removed his glove. South Africa's physiotherapist, Brandon Jackson, was on the field within seconds and tested his range of motion before applying a healthy dose of magic spray. Amla carried on, but was well rattled.

South Africa seemed to be asking for a run-out after Quinton de Kock sent Rilee Rossouw back three times in the first 10 overs, but the real risks only came later on. David Miller was trying to sneak a single after pushing the ball straight to cover but AB de Villiers was not as keen. Miller slipped on his way back and if the throw had come in accurately, he would have been well short of his ground. Saqlain Haider had to collect it on the full and fumbled to give Miller enough time to dive in.

There was only one six in the first 37 overs of the South African innings and it seemed likely to stay that way until de Villiers decided to switch gears. He announced his intentions by standing still and smashing an Amjad Javed length ball over mid-wicket for six. The ball ricocheted off a board beyond the boundary and went back into the field, where it was caught. If backyard cricket rules applied, de Villiers would have been on his way.

UAE said they would not give anything to South Africa on a plate and they showed that when they forced Morne Morkel to throw the kitchen sink at their stubborn opening pair. In his first over, Morkel started short and got shorter until he had Andri Berenger fending the ball off his chest. It caught the handle and balooned up to where gully should have been and would have found empty space had Rilee Rossouw not taken quick action. He moved in from point, dived to his left and got a hand under the ball just before it hit the ground to get make the first inroad.

De Villiers has made a habit of bringing himself on in the hopes of burgling a wicket and he did that again, but he will insist there was a lot more than luck involved when he took his second scalp. De Villiers banged in a bouncer and Amjad Javed's eyes lit up. He pulled on instinct alone and soon released it wouldn't be enough. His top-edge swirled to deep mid-wicket where Wayne Parnell was fielding as a substitute and tried to catch it overhead. Both de Villiers and Amjad would have had their hearts in the mouths as Parnell juggled it and juggled it and got control and juggled it again before claiming the catch.

The Westpac Stadium is one of the bigger capacity venues in New Zealand and this match had one of the smallest crowds which left everyone with more than enough space to stretch out. Two kids took it quite literally and spent the entire match running around the stands, in a full circle between the seats. They chose an empty row where they did not have to ask people to swing around in the chairs and managed to do more laps than any of the players. That's one way to keep yourself entertained.