History could be one win away for the Black Caps with the first test against South Africa in Durban appearing headed for a draw after another days play was wiped out because of a wet outfield.

Umpires Ian Gould and Richard Illingworth ruled out any cricket on day four just after 2pm on Monday (midnight NZ time).

The decision means no play has been possible since early afternoon on day two, when rain forced the players off with New Zealand struggling at 15-2 in reply to the Proteas first innings total of 263.

Even heavier overnight rain followed and, despite a sunny Sunday and windy Monday morning, several areas of the Kingsmead ground were still deemed too damp for play to resume in a safe fashion on the penultimate day of the test.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Unfortunately the umpires have abandoned play on day four with certain areas of the ground still to wet. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/savnz?src=hash">#savnz</a> ^WN <a href="https://t.co/gzAyedJwYu">pic.twitter.com/gzAyedJwYu</a></p>&mdash; BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLACKCAPS/status/767700192816689152">August 22, 2016</a></blockquote>

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With just one day remaining, it will take a brilliant effort from either team to claim victory.

And if the match ends in a draw as expected, the second and final match at Centurion near Pretoria will present the Kiwis the chance to secure their first series win against South Africa.

In 14 test series between the two nations, 11 have been won by the Proteas and the other three have been drawn.

The match head-to-head also reflects South Africa's dominance, the Black Caps winning just four of the 40 tests and not prevailing since the second test of the 2004 series in Auckland.

While late-winter rain started the delay, it is the patchy turf that greeted the players at Kingsmead prior to the match which has prolonged it.

Relaid in June, the outfield was on track to be at 100 per cent before a stretch of bad weather at the end of July meant a number of barren, sandy patches with little or no grass remained for the Proteas first test since January.

When almost 70mm of rain fell overnight on Saturday, those areas were so badly affected that play has not been possible for two days.

A fine day is forecast in Durban on Tuesday, but given how slowly some parts of the ground have been drying there is not widespread optimism play will start as scheduled at 10am 

SOUTH AFRICA: SC Cook, D Elgar, HM Amla, F du Plessis (capt), T Bavuma, JP Duminy, Q de Kock (wk), VD Philander, DL Piedt, DW Steyn, K Rabada

NEW ZEALAND: MJ Guptill, TWM Latham, KS Williamson (capt), LRPL Taylor, HM Nicholls, BJ Watling (wk), MJ Santner, DAJ Bracewell, N Wagner, TG Southee, TA Boult - stuff.co.nz