South Africa v New Zealand 1st ODI: 5 Talking Points

South Africa v New Zealand 1^st ODI: 5 Talking Points: After the T20I series was drawn 1-1 the focus shifted to the ODIs. Faf du Plessis has been out of the series with an injury, and that meant Rilee Rossouw got a chance to showcase his skills in the 1^st match of the series at Centurion. The Kiwis were also resting some key players. This was their first ODI encounter since the epic semi final clash of the 2015 ICC World Cup. It was a loss that hurt the Proteas very badly, pouring water on their aspirations of making it to their first World Cup final and the hosts were looking to extract revenge. And that is what they did, as New Zealand went down by a reasonably comfortable margin of 20 runs at the SuperSport park.

Here is the South Africa v New Zealand 1^st ODI: 5 Talking Points:

1. Amla’s fluent century:

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to field first. After the departure of Morne Van Wyk, Amla took it upon himself to inject some life into the innings. Though he was slow to start but after getting set he ensured the visitors would run all round the park. Be it the upper cut or the lofted on drive Amla displayed his full range. He had gone without a half-century in any format since the World Cup but he seemed back to his best. In the process Amla also became the fastest to 21 ODI centuries.

2. The marathon 2nd wicket stand between Amla and Rossouw:

After being dropped in the 26th over by Adam Milne, Rilee Rossouw brought up his fourth ODI fifty and the century-plus stand between him and Amla. In the partnership, Amla was the aggressor but Rossouw made sure that he gave him good support at the other end. Hashim Amla soon registered his 21st ODI century after bringing up the 150-plus stand for the second wicket. The 185 run partnership helped the South Africans cross the 300 mark after the last 10 overs didn’t go as per plans.

3. The eventful first over in the chase:

The New Zealand innings started off very dramatically. Tom Latham was dropped on the very first delivery by Behardien. On the fourth delivery, Wiese at second slip dropped Luke Ronchi. Steyn, who was fuming, would have been frustrated further had a wicket not fallen in the over. However, Amla at first slip picked up a low catch diving to his left to send Ronchi back to the pavilion on 1 on the final delivery. The umpires had to go upstairs to check whether it was a clean catch and the third umpire ruled it in South Africa’s favour.

4. Kane Williamson’s wicket:

Imran Tahir finally broke the stable century stand between Williamson and Latham by dismissing the former on 47. This was the first time in six innings that Williamson did not make a fifty-plus score. He came down the track to a googly and went inside out but didn’t get the elevation and Elgar at extra cover took a simple catch. It was without a doubt a crucial blow, as Williamson looked set to go down deep and hold one end up.

5. Tidy bowling by Philander, Steyn and Tahir:

Though the Proteas’ fielding wasn’t quite upto the standard, the bowlers did well to make up for it. Dale Steyn in particular was very unlucky as 3 catches went down of his bowling but the Steyn Gun did not loose hope and poured all his disappointment into an effort to break Mitchell McClenaghan’s off stump when the left hander threatened to take the game away. Tahir bowled with flight and guile while Philander was back at his best with those swinging deliveries.