Martin Guptill celebrates a ton that also brought victory as the Black Caps thrashed South Africa in Potchefstroom.
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It is true that South Africa are missing players like Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy and Morne Morkel but so too are New Zealand below full strength.
The victory levels the three match series at 1-1, with the deciding match to be played in Durban on Wednesday.
Bracewell – recalled after missing the 32-run loss in the first ODI – and Milne adjusted far better than the South African batsmen to the lack of pace in the pitch in Potchefstroom.
Fast bowler Doug Bracewell was the pick of the bowlers for the tourists as he returned figures of 3-31. The previous record of 114 was set by Mark Greatbatch and Rod Latham – Tom’s father – in Auckland during the 1992 World Cup.
Tahir eventually ended the opening partnership getting Latham top edging a sweep to deep square leg. New Zealand bowled with accuracy on a sluggish wicket because the Proteas batsmen reached the boundary rope on simply 15 events. But the way Tommy played, he really got us under way with the bat and got us up to a decent run rate early on and we could just cruise from there. “The way the guys executed was fantastic – a great effort with the ball, then the way the openers batted”.
While the overall numbers paint the retiring Sri Lankan superstar Kumar Sangakkara and South Africa’s AB de Villiers as the top one day batsmen, it has still been an excellent year for a crop of Kiwis which also includes Grant Elliott and Brendon McCullum.
The hosts were reeling at 134-6 in the 32.2 over before Farhaan Behardien and Vernon Philander (30 not out) shared a crucial 54-run partnership for the seventh wicket to give their side a fighting total.
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De Villiers arrived at the crease to partner Rilee Rossouw and together to two set about rebuilding the home side’s innings. He is still learning his one-day game but the way he played today and the last game, he is starting to find it and starting to be a lot more consistent with it as well.
