ZIMBABWE T20I TRI-SERIES, 2025
Tim Seifert’s unbeaten 66 helped New Zealand to a comfortable win over South Africa © AFP
In a precursor to the tri-series final, New Zealand beat South Africa for the second time in a week, by seven wickets and 25 balls to spare. Once again, the core of the New Zealand bowlers were amongst the wickets with the trio of Jacob Duffy, Adam Milne and Mitchell Santner picking a brace. Chasing 135, Tim Seifert’s 66* heralded New Zealand to their third straight win of the tri-series.
South Africa were sent in to bat, and Rassie van der Dussen found two boundaries early on but Milne knocked his stumps over in the first over to inflict a major blow. Zakary Foulkes and Milne kept the scoring tight in the PowerPlay but the sixth over went for 16 runs with the in-form Rubin Hermann scoring two boundaries on the onside while Reeza Hendricks hit a six over deep mid-wicket.
But just when South Africa were hitting the gas pedal, on the slow surface, Mark Chapman inflicted a superb run-out to catch Hermann short of his crease. Unlike previous games however, South Africa’s middle-order came unstuck today. Dewald Brevis hit a couple of quick boundaries but nicked behind to Seifert. The batting side were still going at less than a run-a-ball at the 10-over mark.
New Zealand continued to boss proceedings as Santner picked up young Lhuan-dre Pretorius. Andile Simelane stuck around for a while but he too departed to the New Zealand captain, as an arm-ball struck him on the pads. George Linde provided some much needed impetus to the innings with a six and a four of his first two balls. It also saw Hendricks switch gears in the next over with a couple of boundaries. But the opener fell to Duffy for 41 before the bowler got Gerald Coetzee to nick behind off the very next ball.
Senuran Muthusamy smashed a six but fell off the next delivery as the procession continued. South Africa scampered through to 134 for 8 at the end of their innings, with 43 runs scored in the death overs.
South Africa began in the worst possible manner in the field. In a 15-run over consisting of six wides, Simelane dropped Seifert when he was on zero to let New Zealand off the hook. With early wickets being their only possibility of defending the low score, Devon Conway and Seifert brought up a 51-run opening stand. Conway played an elegant shot over covers before Seifert hit Coetzee for back-to-back boundaries. The bowler followed it up with a five-wides to add more misery for the South Africans.
The openers brought up the 50 in the fifth over but the left-hander, Conway, fell against the run of play as Simelane got him to nick behind. Muthusamy picked up Rachin Ravindra in the next over as South Africa eyed their way to get back into the contest. Seifert, though, unleashed his array of shots with reverse-sweep and lofts down the ground to keep New Zealand on top. But Chapman holed out to deep mid-wicket to give South Africa a glimmer of hope.
It remained just a glimmer for South Africa as Seifert continued to deal in boundaries and brought up his own 50. He smashed a six into the pub over long-on before Daryl Mitchell scored some quick boundaries to take New Zealand through to their third straight win.
Brief Scores: South Africa 134/8 in 20 overs (Reeza Hendricks 41, George Linde 23; Adam Milne 2-21, Mitchell Santner 2-26) lost to New Zealand 135/3 in 15.5 overs (Tim Seifert 66*, Daryl Mitchell 20*; Senuran Muthusamy 2-24, Andile Simelane 1-5) by seven wickets.
© Cricbuzz
