Proteas one up against Black Caps

HASHIM Amla scored a South African record 21st ODI century to set the Castle Lager Proteas up for a 20-run victory over New Zealand in the first Momentum ODI at SuperSport Park on Wednesday, August 19.

His 185-run second wicket partnership with Rilee Rossouw was the essential difference between the two sides as New Zealand was unable to put together a similar partnership.

The Black Caps looked set to take the win throughout their innings until they lost two wickets in one over to the bowling of Vernon Philander.

Imran Tahir had the best figures for the Proteas with two wickets for 40 runs while Philander also showed excellent form. Tahir bowled no fewer than 26 dot balls in his opening spell of 31 deliveries and then came back to take two wickets in his second spell.

Tom Latham, who scored 60 runs off 80 balls (six fours and a six), and Kane Williamson, who managed 47 runs off 69 balls (four fours and a six), gave New Zealand the platform they needed with a second wicket partnership of 194 runs in 21 overs but apart from the 71-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Jimmy Neesham and Colin Munro, the visitors were unable to build on that effort.

Amla and Rossouw’s partnership for the Proteas was their third major one during the current calendar year. They shared two partnerships of 247 against the West Indies at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium and at SuperSport Park in January, before their latest effort which improved the previous 15-year second wicket record partnership against New Zealand of 172 achieved by Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis in Kimberley.

Versatile and adaptable Rossouw batted at number two and four for his two centuries against the West Indies and at number three in the match against New Zealand.

Amla’s 21st century of 124 runs off 126 balls, which included 13 fours and three sixes, equaled the South African ODI record held by Herschelle Gibbs.

New Zealand opened the bowling with Nathan McCullum, which was a surprise move, not because they used a spinner which is a regular practice in ODI cricket, but because Williamson had won the toss and opted to bowl first.

Having taken that decision with two spinners in their line-up, the expected New Zealand tactic would be to have a full go with their frontline seamers, Adam Milne and Matthew McClenaghan, and exploit the moisture in the surface.

The batting conditions were, in fact, not easy in the first 10 to 20 overs as Amla played 33 dot balls in his first 50 runs, this from a batsman whose great strengths is his ability to keep dot balls to a minimum.

As always, Amla got his strike rate up to a run a ball by the end of his innings before being bowled by a low full toss from Milne that tailed in late at reverse swing. Milne’s bowling tactic became an effective Black Cap weapon in the closing overs. Milne, in spite of bowling a few wides up front when he did not get his wrist behind the ball, was easily the pick of the Kiwi attack and deserved better figures than 2 wickets for 51 runs from his 10 overs.

McClenaghan also picked up a key wicket in Rossouw but tended to be erratic in controlling the length of his bowling.

The pleasing thing about Rossouw’s innings, of 89 runs off 112 balls, was his ability to tough it out under difficult conditions as this was an important learning curve for his international career. Normally he likes to hit boundaries up front but this time he had to graft his way.

The New Zealand fielding was not up to its usual high standards as the Black Caps missed two crucial opportunities. They nevertheless managed to restrict South Africa to 85 runs for 6 wickets in the closing 10 overs.

Amla was the obvious choice as Momentum man of the match.

The second ODI starts at 10:00 and will be played at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom, on Sunday, August 23.