Bowlers, Latham help New Zealand register comfortable victory to go 2-1 up
Lockie Ferguson (Source: X/@BLACKCAPS)
Published - 20 Mar 2026, 01:15 PM• Read time - 5 mins
Match Overview
New Zealand and South Africa locked horns in the third T20I of the five-match series at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday, March 20. New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bowl first.
The home team was right on top in the powerplay itself as the bowlers hunted in a pack to demolish the South African top order. The situation became even worse in the next couple of overs as the spinners - Santner and Cole McConchie - picked up one wicket each. The Proteas were tottering at 46/5 in eight overs as Dian Forrester and George Linde attempted to revive the innings.
The scoring rate was hovering around the six runs per over mark itself for the most part and Forrester's wicket in the 12th over further dented South Africa's chances. Linde and Coetzee provided a small boost, however, the duo were sent back in quick succession. It looked like the visitors would not be able to play out the full 20 overs, but newcomer Nqobani Mokoena's handy cameo of unbeaten 26 runs off 20 balls took South Africa to 136/9.
New Zealand's opening pair - Devon Conway and Tom Latham - got off to a cautious start but soon picked up the tempo to finish the powerplay at 48 for no loss. The southpaws looked in complete control thereafter and kept on adding runs steadily. The game appeared to have gone away from the Proteas' hands by now, around the 10-over mark, and it looked like only a miracle could save them.
The miracle did not come as New Zealand cruised towards the target. The visitors could only achieve a couple of successes though - Keshav Maharaj scalping Conway at 96/0 and Lutho Sipamla dismissing Tim Robinson when the scores were level. In the end, the Kiwis won the match comfortably by eight wickets and 22 balls remaining. Notably, the wicketkeeper-batter Latham carried his bat through scoring his fourth T20I fifty in the process.
Top run-scorer of the match
|
Player |
Team |
Runs |
Balls |
Fours |
Sixes |
Strike Rate |
| Tom Latham |
NZ |
63* |
55 |
7 |
2 |
114.54 |
Top wicket-taker of the match
|
Player |
Team |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wickets |
Economy |
| Lockie Ferguson |
NZ |
4 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
2.25 |
Player of the Match
Lockie Ferguson
The express pacer is in great form in this series. If it was about wickets in the second match it was about being economical in the third. The right-armer bowled a splendid four-over spell of 1/9 which included 17 dot balls. The 34-year-old's overs did not allow the South African top order to get away and that set the tone for the rest of the innings as the other bowlers also benefited from Ferguson's excellence.
Turning Point
The bowling attack led by Ferguson in the powerplay and the lack of application from the batters crumbled the South African innings. Runs were hard to come by as the Kiwis utilised the familiar conditions to restrict the batters which also produced wickets at regular intervals.
What the captains said
Winning Team Captain, Mitchell Santner (NZ)
"A new team to this ground, we wanted to put them in and make it hard for them. There was a good amount of seam, bounce. You look at the depth in our fast bowling, you see, Sears and Jamieson, it was a simple blueprint today: whack the wicket and also some slower balls. Neesham's three overs were also massive for us. The chase looked tricky since Gerald bowled rockets but it was good to see the two boys, the openers, soak it up. But you can afford to do it when chasing 137. What was nice was that we were chopping and changing our bowlers, but the boys were raring to go irrespective. We bowled very well in these conditions."
Losing Team Captain, Keshav Maharaj (SA)
"We lost wickets early and it's tough to recover from 46 for 5. But the lower order rallied to give us some runs on the board. But the batting we did in the first ten overs really put us behind. We weren't adaptable enough and couldn't adjust. We are a young side, not to make excuses, but we want to take the lessons quicker. Beauty of the series is that we've still got a chance to make a comeback. Want to be more clinical with bat and ball in the next game. Mokoena's shots shocked us in a good way and we bowled well in parts too. He's 19, probably never dreamt of international cricket this quickly, but we are excited to see how the future looks for him. He maybe doesn't know himself how good he can be."
