LONDON, England, CMC – South Africa yesterday held their nerve to clinch a thrilling one-run victory over New Zealand in the ICC World Twenty20 Championship as both sides advanced to the Super Eights.
South Africa bowled with purpose to successfully defend a target score of 129 in the final match of Group-D at Lord’s.
Their 128 for seven from their allocation of 20 overs was the lowest first-innings total by a winning side in the history of Twenty20 Internationals.
Stand-in captain Brendon McCullum hit the top score of 57 from 54 balls for New Zealand but there was little substance from the rest of the batting with Jacob Oram scoring 24 and Ross Taylor making 22.
Roelof van der Merwe snared two wickets for 14 runs from four overs to be the pick of the South African bowlers, and it also earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.
Earlier, South Africa’s batting suffered a rare meltdown, after they were put in to bat on a hard, true pitch.
Their captain Graeme Smith led the way with 33 from 35 balls, J.P. Duminy scored 29 from 23 deliveries, and Jacques Kallis made 24 from 23 balls.
Ian Butler was the most successful New Zealand bowler with two for 13 from four overs.
South Africa advance to the Super Eights afterwinning Group D, with New Zealand joining them after Scotland were eliminated.
