South Africa clinched a six-wicket victory in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) against New Zealand at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday. The hosts took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series as a result, with Hashim Amla (48), Rilee Rossouw (38) and skipper AB de Villiers (33) masterminding the chase with two consecutive 50-run partnerships that took the game away from the Black Caps. The trio of David Wiese (2 for 24), Kagiso Rabada (2 for 28) and Aaron Phangiso (2 for 29) were clinical in restricting the Black Caps to 151 for 8 from 20 overs after a good start by Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill.
South Africa were off to a slow start in the early phases of the innings, before Morne Van Wyk and Hashim Amla, before the former tore Mitchell McClenaghan with two fours and a six in the fourth over to propell the hosts off in their chase. He was dismissed shortly thereafter on 19, when he offered a catch to George Worker, who fumbled for a bit, off the bowling of Doug Bracewell for the Proteas to lose their first wicket with 35 runs on board.
Skipper AB de Villiers walked to the crease with the responsibility of guiding his side to victory on his shoulders, Having formed many a valuable partnership with Amla in the past, de Villiers was slow early in his innings before solidly sending the ball towards the boundaries to get the Proteas well on their way towards the target. He ultimately perished after ambitiously slogging towards deep square-leg, where Nathan McCullum completed the catch. The dismissal occurred right after the completion of the 50-partnership between him and Amla.
Earlier,South Africa’s plans to have AB de Villiers keep wicket and open the batting in the shortest format went awry when regular captain Faf du Plessis was ruled out of the first T20I with a knee injury. Du Plessis’ absence forced de Villiers to take over the leadership and give up both the gloves and the opening berth. It also allowed Morne van Wyk, who was left out of the Bangladesh series despite scoring a century in his last T20I in January, to make a comeback.
Van Wyk had to wait for the chance to make his mark alongside Hashim Amla after de Villiers decided to bowl first on a green-tinged pitch. South Africa went into the match with two allrounders in Farhaan Behardien and David Wiese. Aaron Phangiso was preferred to Eddie Leie as the sole spinner.
New Zealand also had a change in opener, with captain Kane Williamson partnering Martin Guptill. Doug Bracewell, who was only included for the South Africa leg of the tour, was back in the side to bowl alongside Adam Milne and Mitchell McClenaghan.
New Zealand
MJ Guptill run out (Behardien/†van Wyk) 42
KS Williamson* st †van Wyk b Phangiso 42
GH Worker lbw b Phangiso 28
C Munro c de Villiers b Wiese 0
GD Elliott c Rossouw b Wiese 5
L Ronchi† run out (Wiese) 5
TWM Latham c Morkel b Rabada 12
NL McCullum c de Villiers b Rabada 2
DAJ Bracewell not out 7
AF Milne not out 2
Extras (b 3, lb 2, w 1) 6
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs; 96 mins) 151
Did not batMJ McClenaghan
Fall of wickets 1-68 (Williamson, 7.6 ov), 2-102 (Guptill, 12.3 ov), 3-102 (Munro, 12.4 ov), 4-118 (Elliott, 14.1 ov), 5-125 (Worker, 15.3 ov), 6-138 (Ronchi, 17.2 ov), 7-142 (Latham, 19.1 ov), 8-142 (McCullum, 19.2 ov)
Bowling
KJ Abbott 4-0-27-0, K Rabada 4-0-29-2, M Morkel 4-0-37-0, D Wiese 4-0-24-2, AM Phangiso 4-0-29-2 South Africa
MN van Wyk† c Worker b Bracewell 19
HM Amla c Latham b Milne 48
AB de Villiers* c McCullum b Worker 33
RR Rossouw c †Ronchi b McClenaghan 38
DA Miller not out 2
F Behardien not out 4
Extras (lb 5, w 2, nb 1) 8
Total (4 wickets; 17.5 overs; 74 mins) 152
Did not batD Wiese, AM Phangiso, KJ Abbott, K Rabada, M Morkel
Fall of wickets 1-35 (van Wyk, 5.1 ov), 2-85 (de Villiers, 10.5 ov), 3-144 (Rossouw, 16.4 ov), 4-147 (Amla, 17.2 ov)
Bowling
DAJ Bracewell 3-0-17-1, AF Milne 3.5-0-23-1, MJ McClenaghan 3-0-33-1, GH Worker 2-0-19-1, NL McCullum 4-0-34-0, GD Elliott 1-0-12-0, KS Williamson 1-0-9-0
MATCH DETAILS
Toss – South Africa, who chose to field
Series – South Africa led the 2-match series 1-0
Player of the match – AM Phangiso (South Africa)
Umpires – JD Cloete and S George
TV umpire – AT Holdstock
Match referee – RS Mahanama (Sri Lanka)
Reserve umpire – BP Jele
