Proteas dominate New Zealand to go top of World Cup group

There was a lot less drama and much more efficiency from the Proteas as they dominated New Zealand to earn a seven-wicket victory in a T20 World Cup Group D clash in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Led by Marco Jansen’s 4/40, the South African bowlers, showing more discipline than they did against Afghanistan in that nerve-schredding super-over clash on Wednesday, restricted New Zealand to a below-par total of 175/7, on a batting-friendly pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

A stunning 86* from captain Aiden Markram, packed with sumptuous shots, knocked the stuffing out of NZ, as South Africa claimed a stress-free victory reaching the target of 176 with 17 balls to spare.

After being asked to bat, the Black Caps maintained a scoring rate of 10 runs an over for most of their innings, but the loss of four wickets in the first seven overs, three of those coming in the power play, meant they were forced to walk a fine line for the most part.

Mark Chapman top-scored with 46 and shared a 74-run partnership off 44 balls with Daryl Mitchell, who made 32, but Chapman’s dismissal in the 14th over proved to be the turning point in the match.

New Zealand started aggressively, with their opening pair, Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, who were so potent in the first two matches adding 33 off the first 20 balls, until Jansen’s extra bounce proved too difficult for the latter to handle.

New Zealand’s power play total of 58 was adequate, but Jansen’s dismissals of Allen and Rachin Ravindra, followed by Keshav Maharaj bowling the dangerous Glenn Phillips off an inside edge, gave the Proteas a modicum of control.

“Slower balls into the wicket worked well and obviously the yorkers did too,” said Jansen.

To describe the pitch at the Narendra Modi stadium as a road would be an understatement. Anything even remotely off-line was in the batter’s arc, and spinners found very little purchase.

Which made Maharaj’s performance so impressive, with the Proteas left-arm spinner conceding only 24 runs in three overs, and bowling a crucial over after Chapman’s dismissal which went for only two runs.

The watchword for the Proteas’ bowlers in the build-up was discipline, and in terms of their strategy and methodology, they were militaristic. After delivering a total of 23 wides and four no balls in the first two matches, South Africa conceded only a single leg bye on Saturday.

Instead of acceleration at the end of their innings, the Kiwis scoring rate in the last seven overs fell to 5.28, leaving them a total that Chapman, described as “below par”, at the halfway stage.

Markram and Quinton de Kock — who became the first South African batter to pass 3,000 T20 International runs — annihilated the New Zealanders in the power play, with South Africa carving 11 fours and five sixes to reach 83/1 after six overs.

There were plenty of elegant drives from the Proteas’ captain, but it was three sixes — the first a lofted drive over the covers and then a pair of Louvre-worthy strikes over long-on — that left a healthy crowd of 50,000 breathless.

South Africa travel to Delhi on Wednesday, where victory against the UAE will secure top spot in Group D.

Because the Super Eight phase is based on seedings South Africa already know they will face India and the West Indies, but must wait to see who out of Sri Lanka, Australia and Zimbabwe will join them.