Player of the Match
Player of the Match

8.50 pm Right that's all we have time for. There's plenty happening in the India-Australia Test, and there too the home side is in huuuuuge trouble. As far as this series is concerned, South Africa have a 2-1 lead with two more to play. We hope you'll join our coverage again on March 1 in Hamilton. Until then, goodbye

"It was a great team performances, it was what we emphasised on," says AB de Villiers, "I didn't feel that presence in the last games but we did this time. Don't know how we got to 270, but we did and we won. Not a big fan of setting totals beforehand. You can always assess later. You can overshoot, you might get less. It's difficult to judge. I just knew we had to bat through and then get runs late. [On seamers] They were good. We had a nice discussion before we out. Du Plessis, Quinton, Hash, they gave the bowlers what a good length on this pitch is. I just asked a lot of energy and I felt the inner ring was really difficult to pierce and we saved a lot of ones there. I didn't expect it to do that much, I felt it was a really difficult wicket to play on, I never felt in. A guy like de Grandhomme moved it all over the place, which helped us because we had two bowlers who could do the same. I don't think it did more in the second innings, we just did well, we caught our catches and we created more chances" he is also Man of the Match "Always very nervous, always fear getting out. it's just human. We started losing a few wickets, and I thought we were looking at 160-180 here, which wouldn't have been enough. But over the years I've learnt to counter that. It comes through experience, learning from mistakes and a deep deep hunger to succeed. There's nothing like contributing to the team, making hundreds, and seeing the smiles on my team-mates' faces. Love captaincy. I have a good gut feel of what might happen in 10 overs time, that's something I think McCullum was good at. I wont get it right all the time"

"They bowled superbly so it was a tough day at the office for us," Kane Williamson says at the presentation," Initially happy with the total, but on hindsight there was a bit more to extra the surface. They bowled very well, it's important that we learn from this a little bit. Our best chance of chasing that down was weather the storm in the middle and then have a crack later on. it wasn't easy. The nature of their bowlers meant they were able to get seam movement out of that surface. Specificially in drop in wickets, it is hard to rotate strike. And you play on smaller grounds so you have to take it deep. It was frustrating, we certainly didn't think it was going to provide that sort of movement. But they outplayed us. They got a pretty good score on the board. ONe day cricket can be fickle, They outplayed us today, and we need to bounce back quickly, go back to the basics. It's a quick turnaround, so we have to look at the good bits and do better"

8.40 pm AB de Villiers walks off a satisfied man. He wanted improvement from his team, and he was at the centre of it all, making 85 off 80 balls defying a slow pitch and a slower outfield. Then he outdid himself as captain - or perhaps was it before, as far before as the toss, when he decided to bat. Could he have known the pitch would liven up under lights? Because it did and the South African quicks were outstanding.

They got the ball to seam around, they stymied Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in the middle overs with impeccable control of line and length outside off. Just look at Dwaine Pretorius' figures: 5.1-1-5-3. Kagiso Rabada was brilliant as well in his comeback game and Wayne Parnell, after participating in an 84-run stand in 10 overs with his captain, came back to take two wickets. Andile Phehlukwayo took out Taylor and Williamson in the space of two overs. And what all that points to is just about the perfect game for South Africa

Ronald: "Kudos to the NZ crowd. Still in high spirits, cheering every time Boult keeps one out. Booing when he gets bounced. Great attitude!"

32.2
W
Pretorius to Boult, OUT, the captain takes the catch to end the match. What a game for South Africa. They batted through a middle-order collapse and now have bundled New Zealand out for 112 on their home turf. it all ends when Boult takes a swing at a back of a length ball on off stump and top-edges it for mid-off to run in and finish proceedings

TA Boult c de Villiers b Pretorius 4 (15m 15b 0x4 0x6) SR: 26.66

32.1
1
Pretorius to de Grandhomme, 1 run, good length ball outside off, puts it into the open space at cover and takes the single

END OF OVER:
32 | 3 Runs | NZ: 111/9 (161 runs required from 18 overs, RR: 3.46, RRR: 8.94)

  • Trent Boult4 (14b)
  • Colin de Grandhomme33 (33b)
  • Imran Tahir4-1-23-1
  • Dwaine Pretorius5-1-4-2
31.6
0
Imran Tahir to Boult, no run, shifts back and across to protect off stump as he defends inside the line of a wrong 'un
31.5
1
Imran Tahir to de Grandhomme, 1 run, works it to deep square leg
31.4
1
Imran Tahir to Boult, 1 run, goes for a sweep, is completely done in by this slow, loopy delivery. Top edges it and looks up to see mid-on not in place
31.3
0
Imran Tahir to Boult, no run, looks to glide a shortish legbreak outside off to third man, but then yanks his bat out of the way
31.2
0
Imran Tahir to Boult, no run, shimmies down and flicks a full ball on middle to short midwicket

Slip and leg slip in

31.1
1
Imran Tahir to de Grandhomme, 1 run, drives firmly to long-off and takes the single as the crowd yells for Boult again

END OF OVER:
31 | (maiden) | NZ: 108/9 (164 runs required from 19 overs, RR: 3.48, RRR: 8.63)

  • Trent Boult3 (10b)
  • Colin de Grandhomme31 (31b)
  • Dwaine Pretorius5-1-4-2
  • Imran Tahir3-1-20-1
30.6
0
Pretorius to Boult, no run, comes down the track, but he keeps out a full delivery on middle. Boult plays out a maiden, idiosyncracies and all. The Cake Tin roars for him
30.5
0
Pretorius to Boult, no run, fuller delivery on middle, defends
30.4
0
Pretorius to Boult, no run, bangs it in short, and it sails over the pulling batsman
30.3
0
Pretorius to Boult, no run, now he goes for it, slogging across the line of a short of a length delivery outside off. Que ends it to extra cover
30.2
0
Pretorius to Boult, no run, sets up for the slog over the leg side, his back leg as the ballast and his front leg out of the way. And then he decides to leave
30.1
0
Pretorius to Boult, no run, walks at the medium pacer and blocks the shortish delivery on off stump

Pretorius for a second spell

END OF OVER:
30 | 9 Runs | NZ: 108/9 (164 runs required from 20 overs, RR: 3.60, RRR: 8.20)

  • Trent Boult3 (4b)
  • Colin de Grandhomme31 (31b)
  • Imran Tahir3-1-20-1
  • Kagiso Rabada10-0-39-2
29.6
1
Imran Tahir to Boult, 1 run, tosses it up, nudges it past short midwicket and he'll keep the strike to face the next over
29.6
1w
Imran Tahir to Boult, 1 wide, drifts down leg seeing Boult move across onto off stump. it's the wrong 'un that fools Boult, but not the keeper
29.5
1
Imran Tahir to de Grandhomme, 1 run, drives to long-on
29.4
0
Imran Tahir to de Grandhomme, no run, flicks across the line, having come down the pitch, and gets struck on his bads
29.3
0
Imran Tahir to de Grandhomme, no run, fires it in on middle, de Grandhomme goes for a slog and wears it
29.2
0
Imran Tahir to de Grandhomme, no run, comes down the track, but doesn't have the room to do much more than block
29.1
6
Imran Tahir to de Grandhomme, SIX, slugs it over deep square leg. He picks the googly, the ball is on a length and he just bashes it right over the fielder posted for a catch there

END OF OVER:
29 | 4 Runs | NZ: 99/9 (173 runs required from 21 overs, RR: 3.41, RRR: 8.23)

  • Trent Boult2 (3b)
  • Colin de Grandhomme24 (26b)
  • Kagiso Rabada10-0-39-2
  • Imran Tahir2-1-11-1
28.6
2
Rabada to Boult, 2 runs, backs away and carves a length ball on middle over extra cover. That's the end of Rabada's spell. 10 overs, 39 runs, two wickets and 140 kph legcutters. Top class
28.5
0
Rabada to Boult, no run,

Top order fails

2007

Last instance of NZ losing six wickets for less 60 runs at home before today. NZ lost 6 wickets for 39 runs against SL in Auckland.

Low scores for Latham

3

Number of ducks for Tom Latham in his last 6 innings. His last six scores are - 4,7,0,0,2,0.

Fastest to 9000 Runs

205

Innings taken for AB De Villiers to complete 9000 ODI Runs - Fastest to this feat going past Saurav Ganguly who got there in 228 innings.