NZ v SA, 3rd ODI Review: De Villiers and fast bowlers destroy New Zealand

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AB de Villiers
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South Africa’s captain AB de Villiers celebrates 50 runs. (Photo by MARTY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images)

After losing the 2nd ODI, the visitors South Africa came back strongly in the 3rd encounter against New Zealand and won it quite convincingly in the end by 159 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the 5 match series. Courtesy brilliant half-centuries from opener Quinton de Kock and captain AB de Villiers the visitors posted a more than decent 271 on the board at the end of their allotted 20 overs.

The hosts were never in the match as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The South African pacers shared 9 wickets between them with one going to leggie Imran Tahir. It was a thoroughly professional performance by the visitors and they will look to take their rich vein of form to the final two ODI’s of the series.

South African captain AB de Villiers won the toss and opted to bat. The visitors went off to a steady start with openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock looking in full control of proceedings. De Kock opened his account with a streaky boundary of Tim Southee in the very first over of the match. Boundaries started to flow from the bat of de Kock as he smashed Southee for a couple of boundaries in the 5th over followed by a couple more in the 7th over.

Against the run of play, South Africa lost Hashim Amla in the 9th over of the match to Tim Southee. Du Plessis joined de Kock in the middle and they looked top consolidate on their solid start. They rotated the strike along and struck the occasional boundaries to keep a steady run rate. Eventually in the 23rd over du Plessis gave away his wicket to Colin de Grandhomme which brought Mr. 360 AB de Villiers in the middle.

Also read: New Zealand v South Africa, 3rd ODI: 5 Talking Points

De Kock too perished in the same over which left the hosts precariously placed at 115/3 at the end of the 23rd over. De Villiers began with a boundary of Lockie Ferguson and looked pretty so0lid in the middle. Despite not unleashing his barrage of attacking shots he kept rotating the strike along to take the visitors towards a competitive total. They lost Duminy and David Miller in quick succession but the captain kept going.

He smashed a couple of boundaries of Ferguson in the 43rd over to start his onslaught and added a couple more in the following three overs. Eventually, de Villiers departed in the final over of the innings after scoring 85 of 8 deliveries. His innings was constructed with 7 fours and a solitary six. The visitors eventually finished their 50 overs on 271/8.

Chasing the competitive total New Zealand never got going. They lost their opening wicket in the form of southpaw Tom Latham who was dismissed by a peach of a delivery from left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell in only the 2nd over of the innings. Dean Brownlie was the next to depart as youngster Kagiso Rabada bowled a great outswinger which took the outside edge of the bat and was safely pouched by de Kock behind the stumps.

Captain Kane Williamson and veteran Roos Taylor looked to rebuild the innings and played some delightful shots in their venture. But just when the duo was looking in control of proceedings, Andile Phehlukwayo castled Williamson with a short of length delivery. It took the inside of Williamson’s bat and struck the timbers.

Now it was the turn of Ross Taylor to bite the dust as he was dismissed by Dwayne Pretorius in the very next over. Neil Broom went to Phehlukwayo in the final delivery of the 17th over to reduce the hosts to 51/5. Apart from Colin de Grandhomme no lower order batsman could make a mark as the hosts were skittled out for 112 in the 33rd over. Pretorius was the wrecker-in-chief finishing with exceptional figures of 3/5 in 5.2 overs. Rabada, Parnell and Phehlukwayo all chipped in with a couple of wickets each with Imran Tahir bagging the final wicket of Lockie Ferguson.

Brief Scores

South Africa 271/8 in 50 overs (AB de Villiers 85, Quinton de Kock 68, Colin de Grandhomme 2/40)

New Zealand 112 in 32.2 overs (Colin de Grandhomme 34, Dwayne Pretorius 3/5, Kagiso Rabada 2/39)

South Africa won by 159 runs

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