Steyn, who grabbed five for 33 in the second innings in what was his 26th five-wicket haul, finished with match figures of eight for 99 to regain the top slot.

After reclaiming the No.1 ranking in February 2014 against Australia at Centurion, the 33-year-old had enjoyed the top spot until a shoulder injury in the Durban Test against England in December 2015 limited his bowling. India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took advantage of Steyn’s absence and backed up by some strong individual performances, finished the year as the top-ranked bowler.

Steyn has leapfrogged Ashwin and top-ranked England pace bowler James Anderson to take the top slot, which he first occupied jointly with retired Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralidaran in April 2008.

Steyn has now been number-one for a record 263 Tests with Muralidaran coming second in the list at 214 weeks. In terms of days, Steyn has spent 2,320 days at the top, the most by any bowler since World War II.

Steyn’s compatriot fast bowlers – Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada – have also made significant gains in the latest bowlers’ rankings, which were released on Wednesday morning.

Philander, who took four wickets in the Centurion Test, has moved from 13th to 11th position, while Rabada has gained three places to rise to 27th position after grabbing five wickets in the match. ICC

The Proteas can nudge up one place to sixth in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings if they win, while the Black Caps will remain fifth irrespective of the result.

But the reputation of Test cricket is at much at stake as rankings points after a farcical first Test in Durban where less than 100 overs of cricket were played before a wet, soft outfield prevented any play on the last three days. There was even less cricket in a Test match between the West Indies and India in Port of Spain, also because of outfield conditions.

It is the first time Test cricket has been played in South Africa in August, almost two months before the usual start of the season.

Preparing grounds for winter conditions has been a challenge – which Durban failed to meet after re-seeding the outfield only two months before the match. Following reports from the match referees, the outfields in Durban and Port of Spain were condemned as “poor” by the ICC.

Centurion groundsman Rudolph du Preez had the advantage of planting winter grass much earlier than Durban, with work starting in April, almost immediately after the 2015-16 season.

He said it was necessary to plant winter grass because fielders struggled on dry, dormant summer grass when the same two countries met in a one-day international in August last year.

With virtually no rain falling on the South African Highveld during winter – and no rain predicted during the Test – Du Preez is confident that conditions will be suitable for Test cricket. He said more time had been necessary to prepare the pitch because cool conditions meant it took longer to dry out after watering.

Du Preez said he did not expect uneven bounce to be as much of a factor as it has been in the later stages of matches in recent seasons.

“It might not deteriorate as we are used to. It might be a little bit slower, it might be holding back a bit more,” he said. Centurion has been a fortress for South Africa in Test cricket, with the home side having won 16 of the 21 Tests at the ground. Their only two losses were against England in a contrived result in 1999-2000, engineered by the late Hansie Cronje before he was banned from cricket because of his association with bookmakers, and against Australia in 2013-14.

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Dean Elgar, Stephen Cook, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Dane Piedt

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling (wkt), Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult

Steyn will join his new team-mates at the Cardiff-based club after playing in the Indian Premier League with the Gujarat Lions. He will be available for Glamorgan’s first seven Twenty20 Blast fixtures, with Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait replacing him for the second half of the competition. Steyn’s captain at Glamorgan will be his former South Africa colleague Jacques Rudolph. “The timing of this opportunity is ideal and there is no better way to prepare than playing in the IPL,” said Steyn in a Glamorgan statement. “I know that Jacques and the rest of the team have set an initial target of qualifying for the quarter-finals and I will do all that I can to give the team the best possible start.

“It’s also a valuable opportunity to get some overs under the belt in the lead up to the South Africa Test series in a controlled T20 environment.” AFP

India lead the four-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Mohali inside three days before rain washed out the last four days of the drawn second match in Bangalore.

With another dry, spin-friendly pitch laid at the VCA stadium on the outskirts of Nagpur, the top-ranked Proteas are in real danger of losing their nine-year unbeaten series record on foreign soil.

South African captain Hashim Amla confirmed that Steyn will not take field, saying his premier fast bowler had not recovered from the groin strain he suffered in Mohali.

“Not having Dale in the team is a setback because not having the services of the best bowler in the world is never a nice thing,” he said. “But we have got to deal with it and, hopefully, the guys who play will get a chance to stand out.”

When South Africa played a Test in Nagpur in 2010, Steyn picked up a 10-wicket haul, including a career-best 7-57 in the first innings, to fashion his team’s emphatic win by an innings and six runs.

Indian captain Virat Kohli, however, insisted Steyn’s absence will not make a difference to his team’s prospects.

“We have faced him enough times in the past and we have scored enough runs against him,” he said. “We treat every bowler the same way. Someone else might step up, so you can’t take anyone lightly.”

“Hopefully runs will come” -Amla’s own poor form with the bat will worry the tourists after he made 43 and 0 in the first Test and seven in the rain-ruined second game in Bangalore.

“I definitely would have liked to have got more runs in the series,” said Amla, who hit an unbeaten 253, the second highest of his 23 three-figure knocks in Test cricket, in Nagpur five years ago.

“Hopefully, the runs are still to come. We have got two big Test matches to deal with.”

South Africa have been let down so far by their inability to cope with India’s spin twins, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who have equally shared 24 of the 30 wickets to fall in three innings so far.

“We have not played our best cricket,” Amla said as the tourists limped to 184 and 109 in Mohali and made 214 on the first day at Bangalore.

– “Not pleasant to face our spinners” -Kohli said he was relieved at not having to face his own spinners, Ashwin, Jadeja and Amit Mishra, who have wreaked havoc with the South African batting.

“If I was playing against them, I would find it really difficult to score off them,” he said. “I am sure it is not pleasant facing the three of them.”

Kohli insisted too much was being made of the dry, brown pitch that will aid spin as the match goes on.

“I don’t know why there is so much of hue and cry about wickets in India,” he said. “We have absolutely no problem in playing on wickets given to us.”

Amla, asked about the pitch, said: “It looks like a good cricket wicket, one that we kind of expect in the sub-continent.”

The South African captain said his team’s dream of winning the series was not over yet, but they still needed to win at Nagpur to set up the decider in Delhi from December 3.

“It is a must-win game for us if we are to win the series,” he said. “The issue has been more with the lack of runs than the lack of wickets. Hopefully, we’ll get the runs too.”

AFP