CENTURION: A blazing half-century from opener Martin Guptill helped New Zealand beat South Africa by 32 runs at SuperSport Park on Sunday to draw the two-match Twenty20 International series 1-1.

Guptill smashed three sixes and six fours as he bludgeoned 60 from 35 balls to lead the tourists to 177 for seven — their highest total in a Twenty20 international against the Proteas.

South Africa were in trouble early in their chase and battled to keep up with the rate, managing 145 for eight in reply with spinners Nathan McCullum and Ish Sodhi and quick bowler Mitchell McClenaghan all chipping in with two wickets each for New Zealand.

Stand-in captain Kane Williamson, leading a side missing several key players, some injured and others resting, was delighted with what he described as “a much improved effort” following defeat by six wickets in the first match in Durban on Friday.

“We touched on a few areas which we needed to improve on after Durban, “said Williamson. “We wanted a few more runs in the middle overs and we managed that. We took wickets at crucial moments but we were also quite smart with our bowling.”

South Africa were never on target in the chase after losing their first three batsmen, including world stars Hashim Amla and A.B. de Villiers, for 47 runs inside seven overs.

De Villiers, again captaining South Africa in the absence of an injured Faf du Plessis, said his side were well beaten.

“We were definitely below par with the ball today and unfortunately we lost wickets at crucial times,” he said.

The sides start a three-match one-day series at the same venue on Wednesday.

As in the first match, Guptill and Williamson got their side off to a fast start, putting on 52 off 5.3 overs before Williamson was caught at third man off Kagiso Rabada for 25.

The pair put on 68 for the first wicket in Durban before the side subsided to 151 for eight.

New Zealand put up a better performance on Sunday but again there were no further major partnerships although Jimmy Neesham (28 from 19 balls) played a fine cameo as the visitors finished their innings strongly after the platform laid by Guptill.

Young fast bowler Rabada was the pick of the home bowlers with three for 30 in his four overs, including two wickets in as many balls for the second match running.

But New Zealand’s bowlers struck early, with left-armer McClenaghan having Morne van Wyk caught behind before Amla (14) drove fast bowler Adam Milne to point.

De Villiers threatened briefly, hitting 15 off nine balls with two fours and a six, before he was caught at long-on by Neesham off McCullum when he tried to swing the spinner away for six.

Farhaan Behardien top-scored for South Africa with 36 from 33 balls, but his partnership of 37 with David Miller (29) was the only real resistance from the Proteas while Rilee Rossouw (26) also tried to rebuild.

McCullum removed Behardien off a full toss when the batsman tried to slog it to midwicket and sent a catch straight to Guptill.

New Zealand were in control from then on and South Africa never looked likely to win.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:

M. Guptill c Miller b Behardien 60 K. Williamson c Abbott b Rabada 25 T. Latham c Amla b Leie 3 G. Elliott lbw b Phangiso 20 J. Neesham b Rabada 28 L. Ronchi c Miller b Wiese 6 C. Munro c De Villiers b Rabada1 8 N. McCullum not out 1 A. Milne not out 10

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-5) 6

TOTAL (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 177

DID NOT BAT: I. Sodhi, M McClenaghan.

FALL OF WKTS: 1-52, 2-70, 3-104, 4-113, 5-146, 6-166, 7-166.

BOWLING: Phangiso 4-0-40-1 (2w), Abbott 4-0-44-0 (1w), Rabada 4-0-30-3, Wiese 4-0-26-1 (1w), Leie 3-0-32-1 (1w), Behardien 1-0-4-1.

SOTU AFRICA:

H. Amla c Munro b Milne 14 M. van Wyk c Ronchi b McClenaghan 3 A. de Villiers c Neesham b McCullum 15 R. Rossouw c Williamson b Sodhi 26 F. Behardien c Guptill b McCullum 36 D. Miller c Munro b McClenaghan 29 D. Wiese c McCullum b Sodhi 2 A. Phangiso c Williamson b Neesham 2 K. Rabada not out 5 K. Abbott not out 9

EXTRAS (W-4) 4

TOTAL (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 145

DID NOT BAT: E. Leie.

FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-19, 3-47, 4-75, 5-112, 6-115, 7-123, 8-131.

BOWLING: McCullum 4-0-31-2, Milne 4-0-27-1 (2w), McClenaghan 4-0-28-2 (1w), Neesham 3-0-22-1, Sodhi 4-0-27-2, Elliott 1-0-10-0.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Martin Guptill (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Martin Guptill (New Zealand).

UMPIRES: Johan Cloete and Shaun George (both South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: Adrian Holdstock (South Africa).

MATCH REFEREE: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2015

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