Strong innings by Aiden Markram
For South Africa, their captain Aiden Markram played a brilliant inning of 86 not out. This innings included 8 fours and 4 sixes. Apart from this, Ryan Rickelton and Dewald Brewis also scored 21-21 runs. David Miller also scored unbeaten 24 runs. Rachin Ravindra, James Neesham and Lockie Ferguson took one wicket each for New Zealand.
Chapman and Mitchell’s partnership was excellent
Earlier, on the basis of 74-run counter partnership between Mark Chapman (48) and Daryl Mitchell (32), we scored 175 runs for 7 wickets against South Africa here on Saturday. On a fast and bouncy pitch, South Africa decided to bowl first in this Group D match. Tim Seifert (13) welcomed Marco Jansen with a six, while Finn Allen took an aggressive approach against Lungi Ngidi, hitting a six and a four in the same over.
New Zealand lost wickets continuously
The team’s score had just reached 33 runs when Jansen got Seifert caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock on an extra bounce ball. He then got Rachin Ravindra (13) caught by David Miller and soon the dangerous Allen (31 runs on 17 balls) was caught out by captain Aiden Markram. Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj bowled Glenn Phillips (1), who was in excellent form, and put New Zealand in trouble by taking four wickets for 64 runs in 7 overs.
Chapman and Mitchell made a comeback
Ngidi (one wicket for 34 runs) and Kagiso Rabada got help from the pitch, but they could not take full advantage of it. Chapman and Mitchell then took over the innings with composure and controlled aggression. Chapman scored 48 runs in 26 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes. Mitchell (32 runs on 24 balls) supported him well. He reduced the pressure by hitting a long six off Markram’s ball. Chapman also scored 15 runs from the over by hitting a six off Markram.
Strong bowling by Yansen
When New Zealand was moving towards a big score in the last overs, Yansen made a comeback for the team by denying Chapman a half-century. Ryan Rickelton took his catch. Mitchell also soon became Ngidi’s victim. Captain Mitchell Santner was dismissed cheaply by Corbin Bosh. Yansen was the team’s bowler with four wickets for 40 runs. Bosh took one wicket for 34 runs in four overs and maintained a steady line. Maharaj took one wicket for 24 runs. Thanks to James Neesham’s unbeaten 23 runs in the last overs, New Zealand scored a challenging score of 175 runs for 7 wickets.
