New Zealand vs South Africa 1st T20I: Debutants Mokoena, Esterhuizen guide SA to 7-wicket win

South Africa hammered New Zealand by 7 wickets in the first T20I of the five-match series on Sunday, March 15 at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. After opting to bat first, New Zealand were bundled out for 91 in 14.3 overs on a pitch where the South African seamers had a field day.

In reply, the Proteas chased down the modest target in 16.4 overs, with the young side biding their time in the middle and comfortably taking their team over the line. Earlier, New Zealand’s misery began in the first over itself as Gerald Coetzee removed Devon Conway on the last ball.

He later trapped Tom Latham in front of the stumps to give the Kiwis their second blow. Coetzee was well supported by Ottneil Baartman, who also accounted for Tim Robinson (6 off 5) and Nick Kelly (2 off 5), while a run out of Bevon Jacobs (10 off 7) reduced New Zealand to 36/5 in 5.5 overs.

Jimmy Neesham (26 off 21) walked in at number 7 and tried his best to take the team to a respectable score, but Nqobani Mokoena cleaned up the tail to bundle out the Kiwis for 91.

In reply, South Africa lost Tony de Zorzi (2 off 8) and Rubin Hermann (7 off 6) cheaply. However, Connor Esterhuizen held one end and stitched crucial stands with Jason Smith (10 off 14) and Dian Forrester (16 off 25) to guide his team to a comfortable victory.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

Nqobani Mokoena

The 19-year-old shone on his debut, scalping 3/26 in 3.3 overs. Mokoena’s first two overs didn’t yield any wickets but he got rid of James Neesham, Cole McConchie and Zakary Foulkes to clean up the tail and was deservedly adjudged Player of the Match.

Turning Point

The new ball spell between Gerald Coetzee (2/14) and Ottneil Baartman (2/22) was the turning point of the fixture, as New Zealand could never really recover after the early blows inflicted on them. In the end, their spells proved decisive to turn the match in South Africa’s favour.

What did the captains said:

Winning Captain, Keshav Maharaj (SA)

Yeah, I think all the plans paid off and the execution was pretty top-notch from our bowlers. It’s a young bowling lineup, but whatever we asked them to do, they stood up. It was a little bit nervy towards the end, but it showed the maturity in Connor and Dian and the way they played to take us over the line. Very much so. It’s really exciting to see the depth in the system and how the guys fit into international cricket. Yes, it’s their debut, but the way they performed today was superb. As a captain, I couldn’t have asked for anything more from the debutants—especially contributing with the bat at the end to get us over the line. It’s special, but now it’s back to the drawing board for another assignment on Tuesday. Absolutely. You don’t get the chance to captain your country every day, and to do it in my 50th match is a special opportunity. To get a win makes it even more special. I’m very grateful for that. Yes, very much so. Mitch’s cricket is in a phenomenal space, both with ball and bat and as a leader. It’s always nice to contribute to the team by getting big players out. I think it’s just about taking a little more control with the bat. It was a tricky wicket, so maybe absorbing pressure better and identifying the threats earlier. But overall it was a top-notch performance.

Losing Captain, Mitchell Santner (NZ):

Yeah, it was a good start winning the toss. I think there was probably a little bit more in the pitch than we expected, especially up front. South Africa bowled really well and put us under pressure early. Losing wickets in the powerplay always makes it tough from there. I guess it was one of those situations where, if you identify that the pitch is doing a little bit early, maybe you need to have a bit of a look. But again, they bowled well. Being four down in the powerplay is always a challenge. Even if we could have scrapped to 120 or 130, it might have created a few more challenges for them in the second innings. It’s one of those games where you reflect on the little moments, but with a quick turnaround you have to move on pretty quickly. We pride ourselves on adapting, and I think we didn’t do that quickly enough today. That’s something we will look at. Hamilton will be a different wicket with different dimensions, so you’ve got to learn on the fly a bit. We will reflect on the batting innings and then move forward from there.I think every game you play helps you understand the opposition a bit more. When you have a five-game series, you do have that luxury. You obviously don’t want to start slowly like we did today, but each game helps you understand the players and what things might look like going forward. They’re a quality side, as they showed today, and we know we’re in for a fight in the next four games. Yeah, it was a bit strange but nice. If we had 120 or 130 on the board it might have been even more exciting. It was good to see the ball spin like that. We don’t really get that a lot in New Zealand, or even in some places we’ve played like India recently, so it was pretty cool.