Fleming played a lone hand of 89 as South Africa bowled out the Kiwis for 195 in the Champions Trophy group B match.
Skipper Fleming leads from the front as New Zealand beat South Africa by 87 runs
MUMBAI: Write them off at your own risk. The Black Caps sure are the dark horses of this Champions trophy, and not without reason. Put in to bat and restricted to a paltry total of 195 in 50 overs, the Kiwis put up a brilliant performance to bowl out the South Africans for 108 in 34.1 overs (the lowest ever by the South Africans in the Champions Trophy) to win their opening match by 87 runs at the Brabourne Stadium here on Monday.
Earlier, New Zealand captain and man-of-the-match Stephen Fleming scored a fighting 89 to provide some respectability to the total. The Kiwi bowling trio of Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram and Jeetan Patel bagged three wickets each to script an immaculate bowling and fielding performance.
Medium pacer Kyle Mills’ devastating opening spell (6-0-18-3) put the South Africans on the backfoot right from the start. He scalped opener Boeta Dippenaar (0) off the last ball of the innings’ very first over. And then picked up the wickets of Gibbs (0), clean bowling him with a beauty, and birthday boy Jacques Kallis (8) off a brilliant caught-and-bowl.
Jacob Oram and off-spinner Jeetan Patel didn’t let the South Africans get off the hook. The 26-year-old offie took only 3.1 overs to clean up the tail. For the South Africans, only captain Graeme Smith (42) put up any resistance, before holding out to Vettori at mid-off, off Oram’s bowling.
Earlier, Kallis made the perfect start to his 31st year taking three wickets to help his side restrict New Zealand to 195. Captain Fleming was also one of Kallis’ victims. Fleming, New Zealand’s longest serving and most successful captain and also one of the classiest left-handers in the game today, made an impressive 89 off 110 balls (11 fours) in sapping conditions.
New Zealand couldn’t bat through their quota of overs, being bowled out in 45.4 overs. Only three other batsmen got into double figures — Vincent (17), Nathan Astle (14) and wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum (21).
Fleming and Astle put on 47 runs for the second wicket, the highest partnership of the innings. Fleming, who opened the innings with Vincent, reached his 50 in 64 balls, cracking nine delightful boundaries.
Earlier, South African bowler Shaun Pollock became only the fifth bowler in the history of the game to take 350 wickets when he scalped opener Lou Vincent for 17. Wasim Akram sits atop the illustrious list with 502 wickets, the only bowler to have reached the five-hundred mark in One-day internationals.
SCORECARD
New Zealand
Lou Vincent b Pollock 17
Stephen Fleming c Pollock b Kallis 89
Nathan Astle b Hall 14
Hamish Marshall b Nel 1
Peter Fulton c Boucher b Kallis 2
Jacob Oram c Dippenaar b Peterson 7
Brendon McCullum c and b Peterson 21
Daniel Vettori c Bouncher b Smith 9
James Franklin b Kallis 9
Kyle Mills not out 4
Jeetan Patel run out 2
Extras: (4b, 4lb, 1nb, 11w) 20
Total: (all out) 195. Overs: 45.4
Fall of wickets: 1 27, 2 74, 3 76, 4 86, 5 99, 6 135, 7 156, 8 180, 9 192, 10 195
Bowling: Shaun Pollock 6 1 18 1 (1nb, 1w), Makhaya Ntini 6 0 35 0, Andre Nel 6 2 15 1 (1w), Andrew Hall 4 2 25 1 (1w), Jacques Kallis 7 0 28 3 (5w), Robin Peterson 8.4 0 34 2, Graeme Smith 8 0 32 1 (3w)
South Africa
G Smith c Vettori b Oram 42,
B Dippenaar lbw b Mills 0, H Gibbs b Mills 0,
J Kallis c and b Mills 8,
M Boucher c McCullum b Oram 8,
J Kemp not out 26,
S Pollock c Patel b Oram 1,
A Hall c Vincent b Patel 13,
R Peterson c Fleming b Vettori 0,
A Nel b Patel 0,
M Ntini b Patel 1,
Extras (5lb, 3nb, 1w) 9,
Total (all out, in 34.1 overs) 108,
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-3, 3-25, 4-50, 5-69, 6-71, 7-99, 8-100, 9-105, 10-108
Bowling: Mills 6-0-18-3, Franklin 10-0-33-0, Oram 8-1-26-3, Vettori 7-1-15-1, Patel 3.1-0-11-3
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