South Africa v New Zealand 1st T20I: Proteas bowlers sets up an easy win

South Africa v New Zealand 1st T20I: Proteas bowlers sets up an easy win: When the last time these two heavyweight sides clashed at Auckland in the epic semi-final match of World Cup 2015, the world was enthralled by overriding emotions of bounding heart-beats, excitement, heart-break and euphoria like never seen before. When the Kiwi and Protea sides locked horns today, the ghosts and nostalgia of their previous encounter could be ever felt in the carnival like night at Kingsmead, Durban.

The regular South African T20I skipper Faf du Plessis was ruled out of the match due to knee injury. It meant that AB de Villiers had to lead the side while Morne van Wyk donned the role of wicket-keeper as well as that of an opener for the side. Kiwi pacer Doug Bracewell made a return to the national side.

The Proteas skipper De Villiers opted to field though the Kiwi openers relished the challenge as they started off briskly. Skipper Kane Williamson in particular looked ominous for the hosts as he kept on caressing the bowlers every other delivery. By the end of the mandatory power-play, the Kiwi’s had raced away to 56 runs without loss. In the 8^th over of the innings, Aaron Phangiso missed a run-out chance of Williamson. But in the same over he made up for it as he out foxed Kane completely with his flight and Van Wyk didn’t miss an easy stumping chance.

It seemed that the Kiwi southpaw George Worker started off from where he had left off in the T20I international against Zimbabwe. He pulled Phangiso mercilessly for a towering six to get going. The tourists didn’t lose the momentum even after Williamson’s departure. But from the 13^th over of the match the momentum took a U-turn. Martin Guptill got run-out as the glove-man Van Wyk took off the bails in an instant. On the very next ball, the new man on the crease Colin Munro played a lofted shot and De Villiers flew in the air to his left to grab an athletic catch on mid-on.

From 102-1 to being 138-6 the tourists suffered a massive batting collapse and could never recover. The protagonist of the World Cup semi-final Grant Elliot could manage only 5 runs. New Zealand posted a target of 152 runs for the hosts.

The South African’s knew that their job was half-done. And in cricket there is a saying that never say never. But, the hosts started off steadily and the tourists were unable to get a breakthrough upfront. Morne Van Wyk looked in glorious touch and in the 4^th over hammered Mitchell McClenaghan for a magnificent six over cover point area. Adam Milne the Kiwi speedster did beat the bat on some occasions but couldn’t do much damage. It was the comeback man Doug Bracewell who brought about the breakthrough wicket of Van Wyk in the 5^th over of the South African innings. But that brought the South African skipper De Villiers on the crease much to the demise of the Kiwis. The prolific duo of Amla-AB went about their work effectively and added 50 runs for the 2^nd wicket without taking many risks.

But, in 11^th over AB de Villiers (33) miscued a pull shot on the bowling of Worker to hand over a simple catch to Nathan McCullum at deep mid-wicket. On the other hand, Amla continued anchoring the chase. Rilee Rossouw looked in destructive mood and launched barrel of boundaries in quest to finish off the chase early. Amla brought up the 50 run partnership with Rossouw in style with his trademark late cut shot. Rossouw departed on 38 when he top-edged a short delivery of McClenaghan while Amla perished in a similar way on 48 runs. But even then it didn’t take time for the South African’s to cross the victory line.

In the end the chase proved to be a cakewalk for the hosts as they comprehensively outplayed the tourists by 6 wickets. The New Zealand side missed the services of their senior players Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor desperately.

Brief Scores of South Africa v New Zealand 1st T20I:

New Zealand – 151/8 (Guptill 42, Williamson 42; David Wiese 2/24)

South Africa – 152/4 (Amla 48, Rossouw 38; Bracewell 1/17) win by 6 wickets.

Man Of the Match: Aaron Phangiso