Published: Aug 23, 2015, 09:01 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 23, 2015, 09:12 PM (IST)
Martin Guptill’s 134-ball 103 lead New Zealand to an eight wicket victory over South Africa with 33 balls to spare after Adam Milne and Doug Bracewell rolled out the opponents for 204 earlier in the day. The hosts have to blame no one but their bad performance in all departments on Sunday for this humiliating loss, which saw the visitors equalize the three-match One Day International (ODI) after losing the opening game at Centurion. It was another 100-run stand between Guptill and his opening partner Tom Latham as they went on to put 126 runs before the latter got out. The Proteas had three golden chances to dismiss Guptill but Phangiso, Imran Tahir and David Wiese dropped their respective catches and the 28-year-old batsman eventually remained not out after a match-winning knock of 70 from 90 balls. New Zealand vs South Africa, 2nd ODI at Potchefstroom: As it happened
Phangiso was the first man to drop Guptill in the fourth over when the latter was on mere 13 runs; the bowler received the treatment the very next ball from the New Zealander—a boundary to end that over. Imran Tahir was the next African to drop him in the 16th over while the batsman was 37, he was quick enough to pile up 24 runs in 12 overs since his first life. His lucky day continued when David Wiese dropped him just two overs later. Once again the delivery was bowled by Tahir, which was hit too high by Guptill not connecting well went straight to long off where Weise missed it unbelievably.
The Africans had their last joys towards the end when Rilee Rossouw became the first fielder on Sunday to hold on a catch which had dismissed set batsman Tom Latham for a flawless 80-ball 64. Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson misfired even before he could play his original game as Phangiso took a consolation wicket after failing to claim the big wicket of Guptill. A short delivery from the pacer that did not turn smacked Williamson’s stumps.
Earlier in the day, it was the duo of Milne and Bracewell who troubled the hosts on regular intervals. The terrific spell by Adam Milne removed the openers in his first two overs when AB de Villiers won the toss and elected to bat first. In the very second over of the day, South Africa faced a huge blow when the previous game’s centurion Hashim Amla threw away his wicket. Without reaching the ball, the African got a thick top edge thereby giving a simple catch to the third man (Grant Elliot). Two overs later, he dismissed the wicket-keeper batsman Morne van Wyk .
Meanwhile, Bracewell, who last played an ODI in 2013, was the most economical bowler for the Blacks Caps today with three big wickets in his spell of ten overs giving just 31 runs— Rossouw and David Miller became his eighth and ninth ODI scalps.
Brief Scores
New Zealand (Martin Guptill 100, Tom Latham 64, Imran Tahir 1 for 42, Aaron Phangiso 1 for 37) beat South Africa by 8 wickets
MoM: Martin Guptill
(Sakshi Gupta, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a sports fanatic whose mantra in life is “do only what you enjoy.” Her Twitter handle is @sakshi2929)
