South Africa v New Zealand, 2nd T20I - 5 Talking Points

South Africa v New Zealand, 2nd T20I – 5 Talking Points: It was the second T20I between South Africa and New Zealand at the Centurion. Opting to bat first, New Zealand went in with full aggression right from the start of their innings. With a number of glamorous blows early on in the innings, courtesy of Martin Guptill, New Zealand reached to a commendable total of 177-7 in their quota of 20 overs. South Africa, in reply, did not get a marvellous start. With the aid of some settling partnerships in the middle order, the match went down to the wire. In the end, New Zealand stole victory by a margin of 32 runs to square the series 1-1.

To sum things up, here are South Africa v New Zealand, 2nd T20I – 5 Talking Points:

1. Martin Guptill’s blistering knock:

New Zealand had the initial edge over South Africa right from the start of the innings. This was done majorly by the thunderous knock from Martin Guptill. He smacked 60 runs off 35 deliveries with the aid of 6 fours and 3 sixes. In fact, New Zealand surpassed the total of 50 runs in a matter of 5 overs. However, even after the dismissal of Williamson, Guptill carried on with the momentum and took New Zealand to a cruising situation.

2. South Africa’s miserable bowling:

The South African bowling did not fire much and looked pretty much ordinary. Aaron Phangiso and Kyle Abbott were way too much expensive. In fact, both of them conceded over 40 runs in their quota of 4 overs. Only Kagiso Rabada and David Weise managed to put some threat onto the Kiwis, and in the end it was not enough to restrict them to a chasable total.

3. South Africa’s top order collapse:

Chasing down a total of 178 runs, South Africa required to fire early on in their innings. But the opening pair did not manage to fire much. In fact, both the openers, Hashim Amla and Morne Van Wyk were dismissed early on. The first wicket fell right in the 3^rd over of the innings. Also, things went worse with the dismissals of Amla and De Villiers under the span of the first 7 overs.

4. Williamson’s smart moves:

Defending a total of 177 runs, Williamson played the initial gamble by bringing in Nathan McCullum to open the bowling for the Kiwis. Milne operated from the other end and the variation of speeds from both the ends paid off well for the Black Caps. Also, Williamson rotated his bowlers quite well and this helped in breaking partnerships. In the end, South Africa were restricted to a total of 145/8 in 20 overs.

5. AB de Villiers failing to score:

Coming into bat in a pressurizing situation with 2 down for just 19 runs, De Villiers did not manage to score much. He could have been the difference between the two teams. And as usual, he started with a bang by going to full ante early on. But he failed to capitalize and was dismissed at the score of 15 runs off 9 deliveries when he was dismissed by a tossed up delivery from McCullum and was caught by Neesham.