Thursday, September 24, 2009

South Africa won by 5 wickets

Wayne Parnell returned his maiden five-wicket haul in One-Day Internationals and AB de Villiers scored an unbeaten 70 as South Africa got their ICC Champions Trophy campaign back on track with a five-wicket win over New Zealand.
The Proteas bowled New Zealand out for 214 in their must-win match and got to their target with more than eight overs to spare.
For the second time in three days, South Africa won the toss and decided to field first at Centurion, and this time it appeared to be the correct decision, Parnell's five for 57 bowling out the Black Caps in 47.5 overs.
Ross Taylor top scored with 72 as Dale Steyn and Roelof van der Merwe both grabbed two wickets apiece.
South Africa lost the wicket of Graeme Smith (7) early but after that they were never seriously headed, de Villiers' 70 not out from 76 balls coming after Hashim Amla (38) and Jacques Kallis (36) had put on 52 for the second wicket to stabilise the innings.
De Villiers stroked nine fours; Daryl Tuffey picked up two wickets for New Zealand with Kyle Mills, Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori taking one apiece.
South Africa now meet England on Sunday in their final group game and on the same day New Zealand must beat Sri Lanka to stay in the tournament.
The pitch was the same one used a couple of days ago when South Africa were mauled by Sri Lanka, but the result was very different. Early on it offered more pace and bounce than the track on which Tillakaratne Dilshan blazed away, but as the afternoon wore on stroke play became increasingly tougher, especially against the older ball. By the time New Zealand were midway into their innings, after Parnell took two early wickets, the spinners found appreciable bounce and the abrasive nature of the pitch made the ball grip the surface.
van der Merwe and Johan Botha bowled with control and the effort was complemented by the attacking fields Graeme Smith set, which played a major role in suffocating the batsmen. Runs came at a trickle with New Zealand managing just 72 between the 15th and 35th overs. During that span, the spinners conceded just three boundaries.
Taylor had a few close shaves against van der Merwe but overcame his nerves to play a substantial role. He was pleasing when cracking the ball in the arc between point and gully but more than those odd field perforations his contribution was valuable for the manner in which he shored up the pressure of seeing New Zealand through difficulty. Grant Elliott had his moments of indecision when balls from van der Merwe just about missed the edge of the bat, yet managed to pierce the wall of fielders with some excellent shots through cover.
His dismissal for 39, bowled by a peach from van der Merwe, snapped a 71-run stand and allowed South Africa back spectacularly. The last five fell for 11 runs in 18 balls, with Parnell nipping out three in the batting Powerplay, and that decided the match. Taylor had carried the innings but the lack of sizeable partnerships hurt them: there were four stands of 30 or more, but none topped 71 as South Africa plugged away. The bowlers did a fine job, and the sharp turn the spinners achieved suggested that batting in the evening would be even more difficult.

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