Credit: Google
On Wednesday, July 16, the New Zealand cricket team registered a statement victory against South Africa, defeating them by 21 runs in the second T20I of the Tri-series involving Zimbabwe. New Zealand marked their arrival in the T20I series by winning the first match itself played at the iconic Harare Sports Club in Harare. Their first outing was quite a fruitful one after sensational innings from Tim Robinson and Bevon Jacobs, who shared a match-defining partnership.
South Africa won the toss and their captain Rassie van der Dussen decided to bowl first. New Zealand opener Tim Seifert was looking in good touch at the start. However, both the openers, including him and Devon Conway, were dismissed early into the innings. Tim Robinson, who was in at number three, held his ground and started playing according to the conditions. He displayed some quality shots all around the ground.
However, the middle order of New Zealand collapsed in quick succession, leaving them 70/5 at one stage. Then came in their finisher Bevon Jacobs on debut, who shared a successful partnership with Robinson. Only because of their crucial stand of 103 runs for the sixth wicket, New Zealand managed to post a total of 173 on the board with Tim Robinson scoring an unbeaten knock of 75 (57) and Bevon Jacobs helped them finish on a high note, scoring 44 (30) not out.
Kwena Mpahaka took a two-wicket haul while Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee, and Senuran Muthusamy took one wicket each for South Africa. In reply, South Africa also started in sensational style, adding 34 runs for the first wicket in just 20 balls. However, Lhuan-dre Pretorius was dismissed behind the wicket by the sensational bowling of Matt Henry. Suddenly, South Africa’s batting order started to collapse, finding themselves on 62/5 before Dewald Brevis tried to get the Proteas back into the match by scoring a quick 35 runs, but was dismissed by Matt Henry in the 12th over.
Eventually, despite the best efforts from George Linde with his 30 off 20, South Africa just could not manage to make a comeback and got all out for a total of 152 runs in 18.2 overs. The player of the match (POTM) was Tim Robinson due to his special innings, which led the Kiwis to a respectable total. The Proteas had to face a defeat in their second match following their victory against Zimbabwe in the first match of the tri-series. It will be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming matches.
