Published: Aug 15, 2015, 03:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 15, 2015, 03:28 PM (IST)
South Africa will lock horn against New Zealand in the second T20 International (T20I) at Centurion on Sunday. The hosts won the first game with ease, defeating New Zealand by six wickets with 13 balls to spare. Even after getting off to a magnificent start, the Kiwis could only make 151. The total was easily 20-30 runs short. Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill top scored with 42 each, but the middle-order collapsed completely, which gave South Africa the initiative. Credit goes to South African bowlers, who pulled things back extremely well after the initial onslaught from The Kiwi batsmen. READ: Amla, De Villiers guide SA to 6-wicket win vs NZ in 1st T20I at Durban
Aaron Phangiso was the pick of the bowlers, who snapped the wickets of Williamson and Worker, who were going great guns in the early stages. New Zealand will have to put a thought on their middle-order with the likes of Colin Munro, Grant Elliott, Luke Ronchi and Tom Latham failing miserably in the first T20I. New Zealand are without their regular skipper Brendon McCullum, who they missed terribly. READ: The advantage Joe Root and Kane Williamson have over Virat Kohli and Steven Smith
South Africa’s batting on the other hand clicked beautifully and everyone chipped in with valuable runs. Faf du Plessis, unfortunately injured himself in training and missed out in the first match and as a result The Proteas were led by AB de Villiers, who was back to his very best. Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw too played well to make New Zealand’s score look very meek. READ: AB de Villiers is all praise for South Africa following team’s win over New Zealand in 1st T20I
New Zealand will look to dig into their bench and perhaps give Jimmy Neesham a chance in the playing XI. South Africa on the other hand will have to wait till the last moment to see if their skipper du Plessis is fit to play the next game. If he is fit, South Africa will only be a stronger unit than they were in the first T20I. READ: NZC promises fans to talk with CSA to deliver broadcast for coming games of South Africa tour
While South Africa will look to seal the series with another win, New Zealand will look to overcome their disappointment and put in a better performance. For that, they will need all their batsmen to contribute and their bowlers to fire all cylinders, just like their opponents in the first match. It is a match difficult to call, but the hosts definitely hold the edge.
Squads:
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Eddie Leie, David Miller, Rilee Rossouw, Morne van Wyk (wk), David Wiese, Kagiso Rabada, Aaron Phangiso, Morne Morkel.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Doug Bracewell, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wk), Ish Sodhi, Ben Wheeler, George Worker.
TIME: 12 GMT | 17.30 IST |14.00 Local
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
