New Zealand beats South Africa in 2nd T20 to draw series

With the first New Zealand Twenty20 worldwide against South Africa not screened on local television, attempting to analyse the visitors’ six-wicket loss in Durban is the equivalent of solving a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded.

Good support from the middle order allowed the tourists to post a competitive 177-7 before the Proteas were restricted to 145-8, providing a boost for New Zealand heading into the three-match ODI series starting on Wednesday.

Opening batsman Martin Guptill has hailed his side’s performance in beating South Africa in the second T20 cricket worldwide to draw the two-match series.

With the pitches dry and flat, batsmen such as De Villiers, Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill can really get stuck in.

South Africa started slowly and when AB de Villiers (15) tried to up the rate he was caught by Neesham off spinner Nathan McCullum before they slipped to 47 for three in the seventh over.

Farhaan Behardien top-scored for South Africa with 36 from 33 balls, but his partnership of 37 with David Miller was the only real resistance from the Proteas.

The pair put on 68 for the first wicket in Durban before the side slid to 151 for eight and went on to lose by six wickets.

So it’s safe to say that this series will attract interest from all corners of the cricket family and they wait in anticipation as to who is able to trounce their opponent. New Zealand threatened to make it a one-man show before he was beaten by flight and stumped for a 21-ball 42. The Proteas have announced a strong team with the T2O side is going to be captained by AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis will lead the ODI team.

Structurally, playing with two spinners is something South Africa may have to get used to given where next year’s T20 World Cup is taking place.

An embarrassing South African bungle has apparently handed the Black Caps their opponents’ bowling plan on the eve of the one day cricket series, which begins in Gauteng tonight. He brought up his sixth T20 fifty – the only one of the game – with a slog sweep off Eddie Leie and breached the boundary one more time before holing out to a full-toss offered by Behardien.

Cricket South Africa can invite teams from outside the realms of Test cricket until they are blue in the face, but until the game stops existing to serve only an elite few, there will be a risk of series like the one between South Africa and New Zealand being dull and boring.

Opting to bat first, New Zealand set a 178-run target for the hosts, thanks to Guptill’s 60 off 50 balls.