NZ v SA 5th ODI Review: South Africa beat New Zealand’s winning streak with a 3-2 series win

New Zealand came into the game not just to win the match and the series but also to keep their unbeaten home record intact. But AB de Villiers and his men who have been brilliant tourists managed to seal the series 3-2. South Africa was also the last team that beat the Kiwis in their backyard in 2014 and have done that again 3 years later.

The Eden Park in Auckland produced another low scoring game. After New Zealand were bowled out for 149 it could have resulted into a tame one-sided affair but Jeetan Patel’s double strike in the middle overs gave them hopes for a comeback but Faf du Plessis with a half century and an unbeaten stand with David Miller took them over the line in less than 33 overs.

Earlier AB de Villiers won the toss and decided to field first, considering what the wicket had on offer it was a perfect dismissal and proved spot on as Kagiso Rabada bowled the centurion from the previous game Martin Guptill in his first over. Dean Brownlie and Kane Williamson had a bit of a stand but once Williamson was run out challenging de Villiers arm there was a flurry of wickets.

Brownlie and Ross Taylor were dismissed by Andile Phelukwayo, Luke Ronchi also failed to make an impact and got just 8 runs before being caught behind off Chris Morris. At 72/5 things didn’t look bright for the Kiwis. There were expectations from Jimmy Neesham but he responded with just 24 and was Rabada’s second scalp.

Mitchell Santner then along with Colin de Grandhomme gave them some valuable lower order runs 24 and 32 from them respectively took them close to the 150-run mark but once the partnership was broken on 132 they could add just 17 runs to the total before being bowled out. Imran Tahir was the pick of the bowlers as he not only got two wickets but bowled his 10 overs for just 14 runs the most economical bowling spell by a South African spinner and the cheapest by any spinner in New Zealand.

South Africa also had a similar start as off-spinner Jeetan Patel once again starting the bowling sent back Quinton de Kock cheap for just 6. Runs weren’t coming in easy for the Proteas and they had only 35 runs on the board in the 12th over, de Grandhomme the first change bowler then dismissed Hashim Amla to give them a real blow in the chase. Patel soon picked JP Duminy and they were 3 down for 48.

De Villiers then had a partnership with Faf but was broken by Neesham who had one of the best limited-overs batsmen out on a short ball but despite losing his partner with the chase still just half way through du Plessis crashed any plans the Kiwis weaved with a well-constructed half century, he got to his fifty with the winning boundary as Miller at the other end was unbeaten on 45.

Faf took 90 balls for his half ton though was studded with six boundaries, Miller, on the other hand, scored as many fours but also hit a couple of sixes to ensure the Black Caps bowlers were constantly under pressure. That helped them complete the chase with almost 18 overs and 6 wickets in hand.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand: 149/10 in 41.1 overs (Colin de Grandhomme 32; Kagiso Rabada 3/25)

South Africa: 150/4 in 32.2 overs (Faf du Plessis 50*, David Miller 45*; Jeetan Patel 2/26)