New Zealand, with former Proteas coach Rob Walter in their dressing room, beat the South Africans by 21 runs.

The Proteas won the toss, but New Zealand managed to record 173 runs for the loss of five wickets in their 20 overs. The Black Caps then bowled out the Proteas for 152 for a comfortable victory.

SA won their first match against Zimbabwe.

New Zealand, now coached by Walter who unexpectedly resigned as Proteas white ball coach on April 1st, started relatively well. They raced to 27 runs without a loss, but the Proteas dismissed the opening batsmen Tim Seifert for 22 runs. Senuran Muthusamy caught him off Lungi Ngidi’s bowling.

Then the Black Caps wickets started to fall at regular intervals. They lost momentum losing three wickets for just 35 runs. Devon Conway was the next to go for just nine runs after he was dismissed by youngster Kwena Maphaka.

Daryl Mitchell was the next to depart for just five runs, Gerald Coetzee the bowler. He was shortly followed by Mitchell Hay and James Neesham for a duck.

And at 70 for the loss of five wickets midway through their innings, the Black Caps were against the ropes. But Tim Robinson and Bevon Jacobs put on a formidable partnership of 103 runs to finish the innings on 173 for the loss of five wickets. Robinson top scored with an unbeaten 75 off 57 balls.

The Proteas needed 174 runs to win. And they started well, racing to 34 runs without the loss of wicket inside four overs. But they lost the wickets of Lhuan-Dre Pretorius and Rubin Hermann in quick succession.

Only Dewald Brevis and George Linde made meaningful contributions with 35 and 30 runs respectively. They got SA close, but not over the line.

Coetzee also tried towards the end, but in vain.

The Proteas were bowled out for 152 in the 19th over, 21 runs short of New Zealand’s total.

Matt Henry and Jacob Duffy took three wickets each.

New Zealand takes on Zimbabwe next at the same venue on Friday.

--SABC--