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Fleming century holds NZ together
 Fleming's unbeaten ton proved vital on the opening day of the second Test. CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming gave his team a narrow advantage with a ninth Test century on the first day of the second Test against South Africa on Thursday. Fleming scored an unbeaten 114 to guide New Zealand to 265 for six when bad light stopped play 12 overs early. He shared a key 106-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Nathan Astle (50) after the New Zealand batting had briefly faltered against the South Africa pacemen. Peter Fulton and Michael Papps, playing in place of the injured Hamish Marshall, gave New Zealand a fine start with a half-century opening stand after the tourists had been asked to bat. Papps played carefully for 22 before he was bowled for Nel and Fulton reeled off some powerful drives to reach 36 when he was caught behind by Mark Boucher diving to his right for 36 off Dale Steyn. Nitini hit Scott Styris on the body and helmet and then dismissed the New Zealand number three caught for 11 to reduce New Zealand to 82 for three. A determined Fleming found the right partner in Astle and the pair took the total to 188 before the latter was dismissed lbw by Ntini. Jacob Oram was run out for 13 after a mixup with Fleming and Brendon McCullum was lbw to Nitini for five. Vettori (1) kept Fleming company before play stopped 12 overs early because of bad light. The New Zealand captain had hit 16 fours with some fluent cover-drives and square-cuts from 202 balls when the players left the field. Fleming told a news conference he had been particularly relieved to reach his century in view of his poor record in turning half-centuries into hundreds. "Unfortunately you are marked by how many hundreds you get, and I haven't been that good at converting them," said Fleming. "Every time I go past 50 now there's almost additional pressure to do it, so it's almost nice to get across the line. "I was quite public about our top order doing some work. We could have done better, but we're pretty satisfied with the spot we're in. "If we can push on with the batting we have left and get 350 to 400 we will be well and truly in the game. South Africa captain Graeme Smith defended his decision to insert the tourists. "We thought after having gone through their top order twice in Centurion and with the moisture in the wicket here, we backed ourselves to get a big chunk in their batting order," said Smith. "We knew as a team that it would be a gamble, but we decided to go for it. They probably scored a little bit quickly for our liking today, but I'm pretty happy with six down," he added. 
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