South Africa proved why they were the favourites when they landed at New Zealand for the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series by winning the second match at Bay Oval at Mount Maunganui by a convincing 72 runs and clinching the series 2-0, having won the first match, held at the same venue as the second, by a comfortable margin of six wickets. Hashim Amla was declared the ‘Man-of-the-Match’ for his invaluable knock of 119 from 135 balls, while Luke Ronchi was the pick of the New Zealand batsmen for his knock of 79 from 83 balls. The two teams will now head to Hamilton, where they will clash in a dead rubber.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to field first. The Kiwis made two changes in their playing XI, namely Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan in place of Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum. South Africa opted to replace Ryan McLaren with batsman David Miller. The Proteas thus had limited options in the bowling attack and had to utilise a part-time bowler.
The Proteas were off to a solid start, with a 50-run opening stand being put up by Amla and Quinton de Kock. The duo were beginning to look good when de Kock played a Mitchell McClenaghan delivery onto his stumps to get dismissed for a score of 26, leaving the Proteas at 56 for one. Faf du Plessis joined the party and began to attack the Kiwi attack in no time. The duo added 113 runs for the second wicket, with both batsmen reaching their respective half-centuries.
The departure of Amla and du Plessis, along with skipper AB de Villiers, was the beginning of a spectacular collapse that saw the Proteas fall from 279 for four to 282 for nine at the end of their innings. Not only did the lower-order batsmen throw their wickets cheaply in order to get some runs, the New Zealand bowlers, especially McClenaghan, Trent Boult and Anderson managed to keep things under control with a tight spell of bowling that helped the Kiwis grab five wickets for a price of just three runs.
New Zealand were required to get a couple of strong partnerships along their way at the start of their chase, and the opening partnership would be essentially crucial in this regard. The Kiwis decided to go for the opening combination of Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham, which had failed to fire in the previous encounter by lasting only 21 runs. A lot was expected, especially from Neesham, if the experiment was to be justified. It was not meant to be fruitful in this game either. The pair were off to a slow and cautious start, scoring only 17 runs from the first five overs. The two then took turns to make their way back to the pavilion, leaving New Zealand at a vulnerable position of 29 for the loss of two wickets at the start of the ninth over.
A brief partnership between Dean Brownlie and Tom Latham worth 42 runs saw some hopeful strokes come from both bats and keep the Kiwi hopes of a win alive. Latham’s dismissal however set off a fire that engulfed the rest of the New Zealand team, much like the lower-order collapse that was witnessed during the South African innings. Corey Anderson failed to impress once again, attempting a pull towards short mid-wicket to get caught brilliantly by David Miller and depart for a score of one and leave his side at a woeful score of 69 for five.
The pair of Brendon McCullum and Luke Ronchi, the Kiwi batting hero from the 1st ODI, was the last hope for a victory for New Zealand. The McCullum survived an lbw appeal off the bowling of Imran Tahir, the Decision-Review System (DRS) coming to his rescue. He was not so lucky in the second time however, as he was caught plumb off a full-pitched delivery by Tahir. Daniel Vettori and Tim Southee soon followed suit, as Ronchi was occassionally opening up against the South African bowlers, bringing up his half-century in the process in the 37th over.
The last-wicket pair of Ronchi and McClenaghan managed to make the Proteas wait for the victory, adding 76 runs for the last wicket and taking their side past the 200-run mark, breaking the previous best partnership for the tenth-wicket partnership that was created in the previous match (74 between Ronchi and Boult). The inevitable end finally arrived after much delay with the dismissal of Ronchi with the Kiwis folding for score 210 to surrender the match as well as the series to the Proteas, who were looking to improve their past ODI record in the country. With the World Cup a few months away, the performance displayed by the two teams would serve as a source of inspiration and alarm to South Africa and New Zealand respectively.
Brief scores:
South Africa 282 for 9 in 50 overs (Hashim Amla 119, Faf du Plessis 67, AB de Villiers 37; Corey Anderson 2 for 30) beat New Zealand 210 in 24.1 overs (Dean Brownlie 20, Luke Ronchi 79; Vernon Philander 2 for 27) by 72 runs
(Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, traveling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle@akb287)
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