Proteas draw first blood

The Proteas posted a competitive 304/7 in their allotted 50 overs in the opening ODI of the three match series against New Zealand at Centurion.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Grant Elliott, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi (wkt), Jimmy Neesham, Nathan McCullum, Ish Sodhi, Adam Milne, Mitchell McClenaghan. It will miss Morne Morkel and JP Duminy, who are away on paternity leave, but will be bolstered by the return of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Imran Tahir.

Amla highlighted that injuries and players needing rest was part and parcel of today’s worldwide cricket culture and a good team was one that took the changes in their stride without faltering.

The skipper was stumped as he started to accelerate in a key moment but the New Zealanders say they will be better prepared on Sunday for the left-arm tweaker at a venue which is traditionally a batting paradise.

Several other dropped catches followed, majority from balls that were skied, got lost in the lights and fell into vacant spaces, making the usually slick South African fielding effort appear more comical than clinical.

“I didn’t think we had a really good night with the ball in hand, I found our energy lacking in the field. It would’ve been nice if we could’ve used it to our advantage but it didn’t work out that way”. Depending on the Potchefstroom surface New Zealand might consider another paceman although it is expected to be slow and low. But the personnel in each side’s XI for Wednesday’s first One Day global match will feature some significant differences from the teams that squared off in that all-time classic match five months ago.

“I don’t even talk to him when he’s bowling because he’s got such great instincts and you just let him do his job”, De Villiers said. Everyone has got plans. Someone from South African side mistakenly glided the dossier under the door of guest staying in the same hotel.

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The top of the page is marked with “Dale Steyn” and the plans are separated into three columns for each batsmen, including “areas to bowl, bouncers and death (late) overs”.