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Posted on 06:01
New Zealand v South Africa World T20 Group 1 Chittagong.No team had successfully chased 170-plus against South Africa and Dale Steyn single-handedly ensured it stayed that way. The pace spearhead led the defence of 29 off the last three overs and seven off the final one to keep South Africa in the hunt for a semi-final spot.After Steyn conceded just five runs in his first two overs, the third and 14th of the innings, Faf du Plessis held him back for the final squeeze and it proved a master move. With 18 balls of New Zealand's innings left, Steyn stepped up and exorcised the ghosts of Dhaka 2011 by putting the choke on new Zealand.
Corey Anderson scored six runs off the first two balls but could have been out off the second - a top-edge that Quinton de Kock got his fingers to. Anderson tried to hit the third delivery over long-on but did not have enough power behind it and found the fielder. Steyn sniffed an opening and went back to his default ball for the next two. They were short, curled away and beat Ross Taylor as he fished outside the off stump. Taylor got bat on ball to end the over with a couple but New Zealand still needed 21 runs.18:03 (IST): Ross Taylor hits his 5th T20I fifty (off 26 balls). New Zealand 138/3 (15.5 overs) chasing 171 vs South Africa. Colin Munro looks good on the other end. He played a switch hit for a boundary in the last over.
17:59 (IST): New Zealand 134/3 (15.1 overs). Ross Taylor (49*), Colin Munro (4*). Need 37 runs off 29 balls to win vs South Africa.17:48 (IST): WICKET! Kane Williamson c AB De Villiers b Dale Steyn 51. New Zealand 117/3 (13.3 overs) Need 54 runs off 40 balls to win.
17:42 (IST): Kane Williamson reaches his first T20I fifty with a single but catch your breath to listen to what happened just after! Ross Taylor hit Morne Morkel for three consecutive sixes! Boom Boom! New Zealand 109/2 (12 overs).16:15 (IST): 17 runs off the 17th over! Take that! It included three fours off the bat of JP Duminy and then one off the last delivery from the bat of David Miller. South Africa on song here! SA 130/4 (17 overs).16:08 (IST): Last five overs coming up for South Africa. They need to get the maximum runs out of them. SA 100/4 (15 overs).
16:02 (IST): WICKET! Hashim Amla c & b Corey Anderson 41. A freak dismissal! It took Duminy's bat on the non-strikers end and went up in the air, only to be caught safely by Corey Anderson, who claimed the catch that was given out by the umpire. South Africa 97/4 (14 overs). David Miller is walking out to bat.
15:49 (IST): At the halfway stage, South Africa are 61/3 (10 overs). Hashim Amla (32*), JP Duminy (7*). South Africa have to worry about a lot of things including the run-rate. They can't just afford to win here, they have to win convincingly if they want to put themselves in contention of reaching the semifinals.South African batting all-rounder JP Duminy says his side will have to be at their best to beat the Kiwis. "They are a tough challenge, definitely. I guess if you look at the way they've been playing the last few months, they've come into this tournament with a lot of confidence, so it's going to be an uphill battle for us, but I'm confident that we have the armoury to give ourselves the best chance. They're a really good side, especially in the shorter formats, so we're going to have to bring our A-game on Monday," Duminy told reporters.
Duminy also stresses that the loss against Sri Lanka has put added pressure on his side. "There's always going to be that added pressure on us now, depending on how other results go we're probably going to have to win all three. We want to make sure that we give ourselves the best chance in this tournament and that unfortunately means winning the last three games. That's what it is and we're going to have to play accordingly," he said.
The Proteas have been sweating over fitness of their skipper Faf du Plessis and ace speedster Dale Steyn. Where injured Du Plessis is likely to miss the game, Steyn has a good chance of playing. "We hope Faf is good to go by the next game," said Duminy. "As for Dale Steyn, he was obviously fit to play and he put in a good performance, bar the first over. He's a guy that is the X-factor for us so we're going to need his services," he said.
Squads:
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
