New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner credited his team’s powerplay dominance and bowling discipline as key to their emphatic seven-wicket win over South Africa in the Zimbabwe T20I Tri-series clash on Tuesday. The match, a precursor to Saturday’s final between the same two sides, served as both a trial run and a tactical reminder of New Zealand’s all-round strength.
The way we bowled in the powerplay was outstanding: The quality they have at the top, we were able to squeeze. Chipping away at wickets — that’s something we’ve done in all games.
South Africa, sent in to bat, crumbled under consistent pressure to post just 134/8 in 20 overs, with Reeza Hendricks (41 off 37) the lone standout. New Zealand’s fast-bowling trio of Adam Milne (2/21), Jacob Duffy (2/33) and Santner himself ensured the Proteas never found momentum.
“We didn’t pick up a lot of wickets early, but we restricted them and kept the pressure on. Very clinical from the bowlers, and with the bat, it was professional,” added Santner. “As a spinner, always nice to see the ball spin. We even got some swing — and we’ve got three guys who can use it well.”
New Zealand chased down the modest target with ease, thanks to a fluent 66 not out off 48 balls from opener Tim Seifert, anchoring the innings and steering his side to 135/3 in just 15.5 overs. He was supported by *Daryl Mitchell (20)**, as the pair added an unbeaten 51-run stand to seal victory.
South African skipper Rassie van der Dussen admitted his side were outplayed, both tactically and technically.
We expected the ball to do a bit upfront — we just weren’t good enough. Credit to their bowlers, they kept us under pressure and we lost wickets throughout. That’s the disappointing bit.
Van der Dussen also addressed his team’s decision to experiment with player roles, including pushing Lhuan-dre Pretorius down to No. 5 to test his adaptability.
“It’s an experimental phase. We know how well Pretorius can hit at the top, but we wanted to see how he goes in the middle. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get going today against their slower bowlers.”
Despite the result, Van der Dussen praised Senuran Muthusamy (2/24) for his individual effort in an otherwise forgettable outing.
“It was a low score, so no real scoreboard pressure to work with, but he still found a way. A great personal performance,” he added.
The BlackCaps go into Saturday’s final high on confidence, while the Proteas will need to rethink their approach if they are to reverse the result in the game that counts.
Brief Scores: South Africa 134/8 in 20 overs (Reeza Hendricks 41; Santner 2-26, Milne 2-21, Duffy 2-33) New Zealand 135/3 in 15.5 overs (Tim Seifert 66*; Muthusamy 2-24) New Zealand won by 7 wickets
