LAHORE: Kane Willia­mson hit a blistering century as New Zealand boo­k­ed a place in the tri-nation series final after thrashing South Africa by six wickets here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday.

In New Zealand’s pursuit of 305, Williamson smashed an unbeaten 133 off 113 balls, cancelling out debutant South African opener Matthew Breetzke’s monstrous effort for 150.

Williamson, whose knock was studded by 13 fours and two sixes, also put up a second-wicket partnership worth 187 off 155 with Devon Conway, who missed his century by three runs.

The BlackCaps had defeated Pakistan in the tournament opener by 78 runs on Saturday. Wedne­sday’s match between Pakistan and South Africa will decide who New Zealand would take on in Friday’s final.

Williamson’s patient innings was a treat to watch, with the former skipper hardly losing his composure. The elegant batter consumed just 72 balls to complete his 14th One-day International century.

However, after seeing Conway lose his wicket at the other end off South African pacer Junior Dala, Williamson slowed down, also losing incoming partners Daryl Mitchell (10) and Tom Latham in quick successions with New Zealand at 251-4.

But the 34-year-old took his side across the finish line, putting up another partnership with Glenn Phillips as the duo made the remaining 57 runs together.

“I think the conditions today were a bit different and we did an outstanding job,” Williamson said after the match. “We now get a few days off, we keep going to different venues; last one was a day-night game and this was an early start.”

New Zealand had lost opener Will Young with debutant Eathan Bosch striking early. But Conway and Williamson steadied the innings with a big score to chase.

South Africa could have turned the course of the match had they latched on to a chance to catch Williamson out off Lungi Ngidi when he was playing at 66. But the batter hardly erred after that, playing every stroke on merit.

Conway hit the first six of the innings off debutant spinner Senuran Muthu­samy to bring up 100 runs for New Zealand. Willi­amson, who was cracking boundaries seldom, launc­hed Tabraiz Shamsi for a maximum in the 24th over to complete his 50 off 44 balls.

Conway, who had completed his fifty off 64 balls, hit a boundary off Shamsi as the Kiwis reached 150 at halfway stage.

Williamson brought up his century with a single in the 33rd over before Con­w­ay narrowly missed the milestone thanks to a brilliant catch by Muthusamy.

The incoming Mitchell also became the victim of another brilliant fielding effort, this time by Wiaan Mulder, before Latham was trapped leg-before by Muthusamy, with the decision confirmed after a DRS review.

But Williamson kept going on, this time with Phillips on the other end, and completed his 7000 runs in ODI cricket in his 159th outing, becoming the second fastest to reach the milestone after South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who did it in 150 innings.

“Breetzke with an outstanding hundred and we had to work hard to chase it down, said Williamson. “GP (Glenn Phillips) is a lot stronger than me and we have to do it differently.”

Earlier, it was all about Breetzke, who hardly looked like a debutant as he bludgeoned away five sixes and 11 fours in his 148-ball knock before he was caught by Michael Bracewell off paceman Matt Henry in the 46th over.

After losing captain and opening partner Temba Bavuma early, Breetzke assumed an anchoring role in his partnerships with Jason Smith (41 off 51) — 93 runs for the second wicket — and Wiaan Mulder, with home he put up 131 for the fourth wicket.

During the stand with Smith, Breetzke reached fifty off 68 balls. The right-hander completed his century with two sixes and six boundaries in facing 128 balls. His last 50 runs came off only 21 balls, targeting pacer Ben Sears the most, launching him for three boundaries and a six in the 45th over.

After hitting 11 fours and five sixes, Breetzke finally became prey to Henry’s pace, with Bracewell catching him at mid-off. At this stage, South Africa were at 263-5. Mulder kept the scoreboard ticking, ending up with 64 off 60 balls, laced with five fours and a six.

Bavuma chose to look at the positives.

“Matty on debut scoring 150 and the other guys from a bowling point of view also chipped in,” he said. “From this game, we will have to be a lot better with your batting and bowling and it won’t get easier.”

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA:

M. Breetzke c Bracewell b Henry 150

T. Bavuma c Latham b O’Rourke 20

J. Smith run out 41

K. Verreynne b Bracewell 1

W. Mulder c Mitchell b O’Rourke 64

E. Bosch not out 7

S. Muthusamy c Bracewell b Henry 2

M. Mpongwana not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-15) 18

TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 304

FALL OF WICKETS:1-37 (Bavuma), 2-130 (Smith), 3-132 (Verreynne), 4-263 (Breetzke), 5-300 (Mulder), 6-303 (Muthusamy)

DID NOT BAT: J. Dala, T. Shamsi, L. Ngidi

BOWLING: Henry 10-0-59-2 (1w), O’Rourke 10-0-72-2 (10w), Sears 10-0-65-0 (2w), Santner 10-0-62-0, Bracewell 10-0-43-1 (2w)

NEW ZEALAND:

W. Young c Mpongwana b Bosch 19

D. Conway c Muthusamy b Dala 97

K. Williamson not out 133

D. Mitchell c Mulder b Muthusamy 10

T. Latham lbw b Muthusamy 0

G. Phillips not out 28

EXTRAS (B-5, NB-2, W-14) 21

TOTAL (for four wkts, 48.4 overs) 308

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-50 (Young), 2-237 (Conway), 3-251 (Mitchell), 4-251 (Latham)

DID NOT BAT: M. Bracewell, M. Santner, M. Henry, B. Sears, W. O’Rourke

BOWLING: Ngidi 7-0-54-0 (1w), Bosch 7-0-33-1 (2w), Mulder 6-1-32-0 (1w), Dala 8-0-47-1 (3w), Muthusamy 8.4-1-50-2 (1w), Shamsi 9-0-62-0 (2w, 1nb), Mpongwana 3-0-25-0 (1nb)

RESULT: New Zealand won by 6 wickets

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Kane Williamson

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2025