New Zealand's Scott Styris shone with the bat and Chris Martin with the ball as the home side dominated the second day of the second Test in Auckland to trail South Africa by just 95 runs with seven wickets remaining on Friday.

Styris blasted an unbeaten 118 as New Zealand ended the day on 201 for three wickets after recalled medium-fast bowler Martin had ripped through South Africa's batting, taking five of his six-wicket haul to help dismiss the Proteas for 296.

Craig McMillan was the other not out batsman on 31 when stumps were drawn, with the pair adding 64 runs for the fourth wicket in a little over 11 overs.

The New Zealand reply began shakily when they lost Michael Papps and skipper Stephen Fleming cheaply to be struggling at 12 for two when Styris joined Mark Richardson.

Papps's wicket was a significant one for Shaun Pollock, who overtook Alan Donald as South Africa's leading wicket taker in Tests with 331.

The belligerent Styris and the methodical Richardson hauled the home side out of trouble with a record third wicket partnership of 125, beating the 50-year-old mark against South Africa of 94 set by Matt Poore and Bert Sutcliffe in Cape Town.

As the partnership progressed, Styris provided the big hits and Richardson the deft touches, although the left-handed opener went out to an aggressive shot.

He had hit Jacques Kallis off the back foot through the covers for four and off the next ball attempted the same shot, but slashed the ball straight to Herschelle Gibbs to be out for 45.

Styris went on to score his third Test century off 121 balls in 173 minutes and hit 16 fours and two sixes.

DRAMATIC COLLAPSE

Resuming in a strong position at 231 for two, the tourists were unable to gain any sort of momentum and lost eight wickets for 65 runs in a dramatic collapse.

Playing in his 12th Test and almost two years after his last appearance, Martin claimed his second wicket of the match in his second over of the day when he induced an edge from overnight batsman Jacques Rudolph (17) to Papps at third slip.

He was soon followed by Gary Kirsten, who marked his 100th Test appearance by being bowled for one by Jacob Oram with a ball that swung through the gap between bat and pad.

Seeking to score his sixth century in six Tests, Jacques Kallis was next to go, edging a Martin delivery to Brendon McCullum after adding just a single to his overnight score of 39.

Mark Boucher became Martin's next victim when he got a thick edge to an attempted drive and was caught by McMillan and South Africa had lost four wickets for just 15 runs.

A partnership of 27 between Neil McKenzie and Pollock, temporarily stopped the rot, but the latter was bowled by Daryl Tuffey for 10 shortly before the interval, taken with South Africa reeling on 277 for seven.

Revived by the break, Martin removed McKenzie and Ntini in his second over after lunch before Oram finished off the tail, trapping David Terbrugge leg before without scoring.

Martin finished with career best figures of 6-76, with Oram (2-60) the pick of the other bowlers. The three-match series is tied at 0-0 after the sides battled out a draw in Hamilton last week.

Scoreboard:

South Africa (overnight 231-2)
G.Smith lbw b Martin 88
H.Gibbs b Cairns 80
J.Rudolph c Papps b Martin 17
J.Kallis c McCullum b Martin 40
G.Kirsten b Oram 1
N.McKenzie c Papps b Martin 27
M.Boucher c McMillan b Martin 4
S.Pollock b Tuffey 10
N.Boje not out 12
M.Ntini c McCullum b Martin 0
D.Terbrugge lbw b Oram 0

Extras (lb-13 nb-3 w-1) 17

Total (all out, 123.3 overs) 296

Fall of wickets: 1-177, 2-177, 3-235, 4.236, 5-240, 6-246, 7-273, 8-289, 9-289

Bowling: Tuffey 24-7-41-1 (w-1, nb-1), Martin 31-7-76-6 (nb-1), Oram 28.3-6-60-2, Cairns 21-6-54-1 (nb-1), Styris 14-5-37-0, Vettori 5-1-15-0.

New Zealand
M.Richardson c Gibbs b Kallis 45
M.Papps c Boje b Pollock 0
S.Fleming c Kallis b Ntini 4
S.Styris not out 118
C.McMillan not out 31

Extras (lb-1, nb-2) 3

Total (for three wickets, 54 overs) 201

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-12, 3-137.

To bat: C.Cairns, J.Oram, B.McCullum, D.Vettori, D.Tuffey, C.Martin.

Bowling: Pollock 14-5-31-1, Ntini 15-2-49-1, Terbrugge 11-3-46-0, Kallis 9-0-49-1, Boje 5-0-25-0.