New Zealand’s women have secured the T20I series against South Africa. The first game decided the honours in the women’s rubber, rendering the final game undeserving of attention.
Kiwis Dominate to Seal the Series
In the first contest, Jess Kerr took a career-best 3/16. Sophie Devine’s 34-ball 64 topped Annerie Derksen’s 55 not out off 32.
That added up to a six-wicket win with nine deliveries unspent for the Kiwis, and with it the honours in the five-match rubber.
Men’s Series Continues
The men’s rubber remains alive going into the fifth and last match. The visitors were wobbly with the bat, wanting in the field, and wonderful with the ball – which was enough to clinch victory by 19 runs in the second game.
South Africa’s 164/5, punctuated by Connor Esterhuizen’s 57 off 36, and the 81 he shared off 56 with Tony de Zorzi, didn’t seem big enough to hold the home side’s batters. Despite three dropped catches, Gerald Coetzee’s 3/31, Prenelan Subrayen’s 2/13 and Keshav Maharaj’s 2/22 helped dispatch New Zealand for 145 in 18.5.
South Africa Exploring Depth
The men’s series directly follows the T20 World Cup, and is thus as far as possible from the next pertinent event in the format. If anything, it is allowing the South Africans to explore their depth. Of the squad from which the XI that crashed and burned in an embarrassing semifinal against the Kiwis at Eden Gardens on March 4 was drawn, only Maharaj, Linde and Jason Smith are in New Zealand.
The visitors took just 160 caps into the series, compared to the home side’s 649.
Esterhuizen came to New Zealand unblooded in senior international cricket. He’s played all four games, scoring an unbeaten 45 off 48 in the first game in Mount Maunganui last Sunday before getting out for eight and 15 in Hamilton and Auckland. His latest effort, his first half-century at this level, understandably put him in a good mood.
“I’ve loved every second of my first tour with the Proteas,” Esterhuizen told a press conference. “The lesson I’d take is how to deal with the pressure and the scrutiny. I don’t think anyone masters that, but I think the more you do it the more accustomed you become to it.
“That’s the main message [Shukri Conrad] gave us before the tour, especially us newcomers. That everything’s looked at through a microscope.”
It’s helped Esterhuizen settle in that his captain, Maharaj, is also in charge of their shared SA20 side, Pretoria Capitals.
“I love having Kesh as my captain,” Esterhuizen said. “Just for the compassion and the kindness, but also the excellence he drives from the young
By the time the T20 World Cup rolls around in Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2028, the current series will be long forgotten.