South Africa overcame the threat of an all too familiar script where they would collapse from a position of strength, to beat New Zealand by four wickets and equal their previous best match-winning streak of 12 games, at the Seddon Park in Hamilton. The early frustrations caused by a long period of heavy rains faded in memory as the two teams played out an intensely-fought out first ODI, which the visitors eventually won.
The idea of a truncated 34-overs-a-side fixture did not dampen the spirits on either side as they set out to draw first blood in the five-match series. With constant rain set to influence the way wicket would play out, AB de Villiers decided to ask the home side to do the tougher task of setting a target.
Fast-bowling all-rounder Chris Morris made the job tougher when he rattled the top-order, leaving Kane Williamson with an annoying sense deja vu. The early hint of in swing for Morris helped him end Tom Latham’s troubled stay (0 off 11 balls) at the crease. Dean Brownlie and Williamson nullified the impact of his first spell of three overs and added a promising 50-run partnership. De Villiers brought Morris back in the 14th over to force a break in play. The move worked wonders, as Brownlie and Ross Taylor in the same over. Neil Broom fell in Morris’s next over, reducing the hosts to 82 for 4 in 16 overs.
James Neesham kept good company to Williamson and aided in the recovery process after a brief period of grogginess. During this partnership, Williamson reached his 28th ODI fifty, off 48 balls, and looked set to guide his team to a big total. Left-arm chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi however, had other ideas. After going for two successive fours in the 21st over, he saw the back of the New Zealand skipper. Williamson couldn’t resist the temptation of trying to cut a shortish delivery for a third boundary and ended up chopping it onto his stumps.
South Africa would’ve expected New Zealand’s essay to nosedive from that point, but a sensational eighth-wicket partnership between Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Southee worth 50 off just 23 balls dragged the hosts past the 200-run mark.
The asking rate of just above six was always going to be within reach but South Africa didn’t waste time in getting off to a breezy start, courtesy Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla. Williamson’s experiment of opening the bowling with left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner didn’t yield a wicket as the South African pair looked to wipe out the deficit at the earliest.
It took Williamson to bring himself into the attack in the 16th over to force a breakthrough. Amla danced down the track to play down the leg-side but a leading edge ended up in the bowler’s hands. Even as de Kock continued to force his authoritative ways on the opposition, New Zealand were a wicket or two away from rattling South Africa and adding some much-needed pressure. Ish Sodhi, the tweaker playing for the first time since New Zealand’s five-match ODI series in India, struck rightaway in his second spell to send Faf du Plessis packing for 14. The next two overs – off Southee and Boult – brought three wickets to swing the momentum back in the home side’s favour. The three scalps weren’t just timely but also of batsmen (De Kock, JP Duminy and Behardien) capable of polishing off run-chases.
With de Villiers still in the middle, however, South Africa’s fate wasn’t entirely sealed still. Yet, for him to take the team home, he needed an able ally at the other end. Morris, the hero of the first innings, turned up at the fall of the fifth wicket, but couldn’t quite put in a match-winning all-round show. He scored three fours in his 16-ball stay but fell in the 27th over, leaving a lot to do on de Villiers’s shoulders.
Even as de Villiers stuck to his role of anchoring the chase, Andile Phehlukwayo turned out to be the unlikely hero for South Africa. The equation was down to 43 off 30 balls, still within the grasp of the batting side. The pair had to be tread carefully even with the asking rate expecting them to heave a few, for there were no more batsmen to follow. They opted to gnaw into deficit, bringing it down to 22 off 12 balls, where the gloves would’ve expected to come off.
What was unexpected, though, was the fact that it was the unheralded Phehlukwayo who struck the defining blows of the game, first punishing an erring Trent Boult by depositing his full delivery over the stands to put the pressure squarely back on the hosts.
With 12 to get from the last six deliveries, de Villiers was still expected to shoulder more of the responsibility. He, however, missed a slower delivery and had to run and turn over the strike. Phehlukwayo did not let his senior partner down by tonking his second crucial six of the game, this time off a slower bouncer from Southee. Southee followed up with a dot ball but the equation was down to three of three. Phehlukwayo managed to bring de Villiers back on strike off the next delivery, who clubbed a straight four to cap off a thrilling chase.
Brief Scores
New Zealand 207/7 in 34 overs (Kane Williamson 59, Colin de Grandhomme 34; Chris Morris 4-62) lost to
South Africa 210/6 in 33.5 overs (Quinton de Kock 69, AB de Villiers 37; Tim Southee 2-47) by 4 wickets (DLS method).
