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New Zealand crush Proteas in Tri-Series T20 clash

football22 July 2025 14:25| © MWP
By:Ross Roche
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New Zealand powered their way to a dominant seven-wicket win over the Proteas in the fifth Tri-Series T20I at the Harare Sports Club in Harare on Tuesday afternoon.

The result sees New Zealand keep their unbeaten run going ahead of their final pool match on Thursday against Zimbabwe before taking on the Proteas in the competition's final on Saturday.

In the match the Proteas batted first and limped to a well below par 134-8 in their 20 overs after an impressive bowling and fielding performance from the Black Caps.

New Zealand’s chase was then simple enough as opener Tim Seifert carried his bat, striking an unbeaten 66 off 48 balls (6x4; 2x6) to lead his team comfortably over the line with 25 balls to spare.

“We expected those (tough) batting conditions. I just think we weren’t good enough. The ball is obviously doing a bit up front, but we knew that from the first three games. The challenge was to try and negate that and we couldn’t,” said Proteas captain Rassie van der Dussen after the match.

“Credit to their bowlers, they bowled pretty well, kept us under pressure and we lost wickets throughout and struggled to gain any sort of momentum.

Looking toward the final, Van Der Dussen added: “We just want to find our best combination. We were off the boil today with bat, ball and in the field and that’s the disappointing thing. If we can get our best combination and make sure we are fresh and ready to go on Saturday, we can hit the ground running.”

EASY CHASE

The New Zealand chase got off to a solid enough start as George Linde, tasked with bowling the first over, started with a wide, followed by five wides, before Seifert was dropped in the deep on nought, as 15 eventually came off the over, setting the tone for an easy chase.

With 50 having come off the first five overs, Andile Simelane finally made the breakthrough in the sixth over, as Devon Conway (19) edged him to keeper      Lhuan-dre Pretorius with the score 51-1.

In the next over Senuran Muthusamy had Rachin Ravindra (3) caught by Reeza Hendricks at long on, and the Proteas may have thought they had slightly opened the door for them at 59-2.

But Seifert and Mark Chapman (10) calmed things down with a 25-run stand, before Muthusamy struck again, having Chapman caught by Rubin Hermann at deep backward square leg.

That proved to be their last bit of success as Daryl Mitchell, 20* off 15 (2x4), and Seifert eased them home with an unbeaten 51-run partnership.

DREADFUL BATTING FROM SA

In the first innings it was a dreadful effort with the bat from the Proteas, as only Reeza Hendricks managed a decent score, but he even struggled through a patchy innings that ended with him out for 41 off 37 balls (4x4; 1x6).

The Black Caps' bowlers were disciplined, with Adam Milne (2-21), Mitchell Santner (2-26) and Jacob Duffy (2-33) the key wicket takers.

The Proteas' innings got off to a poor start as Van Der Dussen (14) hogged the strike over the first two and a half overs, before stepping away from his stumps aiming a big shot at Milne, only to completely miss the ball and see his off stump uprooted, leaving them on 14-1.

Hermann (10) and Hendricks combined for a 20-run second-wicket stand and seemed to be getting them on track, but a mix-up and some brilliant fielding from Chapman saw Hermann run out at the non-striker's end as they slipped to 34-2 after seven overs.

Dewald Brevis (13) tried to play positively, but also found scoring tough, before trying to ramp a short ball from Will O’Rourke, but just nicked off to keeper Seifert with the score 52-3 in the 10th.

That soon became 57-4 in the 11th as Pretorius (1) popped an easy catch to Duffy off the bowling of Santner.

Hendricks, who was battling to hold onto the strike and watching the carnage from the other end, tried to revive things with Simelane (11) during a 22-run partnership, but Simelane was trapped in front by Santner with SA struggling on 79-5 in the 15th over.

Linde, 23* off 15 (1x4; 1x6), started his innings with a bang as he launched Santner for a four and a six, but that was pretty much as exciting as it got as Hendricks was finally dismissed in the 17th over, hitting Duffy straight to Michael Bracewell at cover, leaving Linde to help limp the Proteas to the end of their innings.

NEW ZEALAND: Tim Seifert(w), Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Zakary Foulkes, Adam Milne, Jacob Duffy, William ORourke

SOUTH AFRICA: Reeza Hendricks, Lhuan-dre Pretorius(w), Rassie van der Dussen(c), Rubin Hermann, Dewald Brevis, Andile Simelane, George Linde, Senuran Muthusamy, Gerald Coetzee, Nqabayomzi Peter, Kwena Maphaka

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