World Twenty20, Highlights: Dale Steyn stars as South Africa beat New Zealand in last-ball finish

South Africa beat New Zealand by 2 runs in an exciting last-ball finish at Chittagong for their first win of the World T20 tournament. Catch highlights here. (Match Scorecard | Text Commentary | Points Table | Match report)

 

19:00 (IST): So, a brilliant last over from Dale Steyn (4/17) has literally snatched this contest away from the New Zealand as they were nicely poised to chase down 171 with Ross Taylor (62 off 37 balls) and Kane Williamson (51 off 35 balls) on song. Earlier, JP Duminy (86* off 43 balls) set things up nicely for South Africa getting them to 170/6. New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said that his team lost a match they should have won but nothing could be done when someone like Dale Steyn bowled an over of that quality as he did during the end. South African captain Faf du Plessis said Steyn has always been his go-to man and JP Duminy had played a great innings. JP Duminy deservedly won the Man of the Match award.

 

18:32 (IST): South Africa (170/6) beat New Zealand (168/8) by 2 runs for their first win in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament. Ross Taylor (52), Kane Williamson (51); Dale Steyn (4/17)

 

18:23 (IST): Morne Morkel has been absolutely butchered in this 19th over vs New Zealand. He went for a total of 50 runs in his three overs and the last over included three boundaries in it. New Zealand 164/5 (19 overs). They need 7 runs off the last over to win.

 

18:10 (IST): WICKET! Corey Anderson c David Miller b Dale Steyn 7. Dale Steyn gets his 50th T20I wicket! New Zealand 148/5 (17.3 overs). Need 23 off 15 balls to win. Luke Ronchi comes in to bat now!

18:04 (IST): WICKET! Colin Munro c Amla b Imran Tahir 7. New Zealand 140/4 (16.3 overs) chasing 171 vs South Africa. All down to Ross Taylor now to get New Zealand close to a win here.

18:03 (IST): Ross Taylor hits his 5th T20I fifty (off 26 balls). New Zealand 138/3 (15.5 overs) chasing 171 vs South Africa. Colin Munro looks good on the other end. He played a switch hit for a boundary in the last over.

17:59 (IST): New Zealand 134/3 (15.1 overs). Ross Taylor (49*), Colin Munro (4*). Need 37 runs off 29 balls to win vs South Africa.

 

17:48 (IST): WICKET! Kane Williamson c AB De Villiers b Dale Steyn 51. New Zealand 117/3 (13.3 overs) Need 54 runs off 40 balls to win.

 

17:42 (IST): Kane Williamson reaches his first T20I fifty with a single but catch your breath to listen to what happened just after! Ross Taylor hit Morne Morkel for three consecutive sixes! Boom Boom! New Zealand 109/2 (12 overs).

 

17:34 (IST): At the halfway stage, New Zealand are 77/2 (10 overs). Ross Taylor got a boundary off the last ball of the 10th over, bowled by Albie Morkel. These two batsmen (Taylor and Williamson) look good at the crease right now. Williamson is nearing his first T20I fifty.

 

17:24 (IST): WICKET! Brendon McCullum st De Kock b Imran Tahir 4. New Zealand 66/2 (8.4 overs). The big-hitting Ross Taylor comes in to bat now.

17:16 (IST): WICKET! Martin Guptill c Quinton de Kock b Albie Morkel 22. New Zealand 57/1 (7.1 overs). Captain Brendon McCullum comes in to bat now.

 

17:14 (IST): 12 runs off the over! New Zealand end powerplay with 47 runs on the board. New Zealand 47/0 (6 overs) vs South Africa. Martin Guptill (19*), Kane Williamson (27*).

 

17:08 (IST): New Zealand openers are beginning to pick up pace in this tricky chase of 171. They are 35/0 after 5 overs. The last over went for two fours and a six! Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan team has arrived at the ground in Chittagong ahead of their next match against Netherlands, which starts at 7 pm IST.

 

17:00 (IST): As New Zealand reach 19 runs without the loss of a wicket at the end of four overs chasing a difficult 171, here are some interesting stats from the match (Courtesy Rajesh Kumar).

# South Africa (170/6) have equalled their highest score against New Zealand at the World Twenty20. They had made 170 for four at Bridgetown on May 6, 2010.

# Jean-Paul Duminy (86 not out off 43 balls) has posted his maiden fifty at the World Twenty20, outstripping the 48 off 38 balls against Pakistan at Colombo (RPS) on September 28, 2012.

 

16:53 (IST): New Zealand 12/0 (2 overs) chasing 171 vs South Africa. Kane Williamson (8*), Martin Guptill (4*). New Zealand can afford to play carefully here in the beginning. They have plenty of firepower down the order in Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum and Corey Anderson. Dale Steyn to bowl his first over now.

16:29 (IST): South Africa post 170/6 (20 overs) vs New Zealand at Chittagong. Duminy (86*); Corey Anderson (2/28).

16:27 (IST): 17 off the second last over! JP Duminy (76*) on fire! South Africa 157/5 (19 overs).

 

16:22 (IST): Meanwhile, the Netherlands team has arrived at the ground in Chittagong for their next match vs Sri Lanka. South Africa 140/5 (18 overs) vs NZ.

 

16:16 (IST): WICKET! David Miller c & b Corey Anderson 6. South Africa 131/5 (17.2 overs). Anderson bowls a slower one that Miller fails to read and he takes the honours for another caught-and-bowled dismissal!

 

16:15 (IST): 17 runs off the 17th over! Take that! It included three fours off the bat of JP Duminy and then one off the last delivery from the bat of David Miller. South Africa on song here! SA 130/4 (17 overs).

 

16:08 (IST): Last five overs coming up for South Africa. They need to get the maximum runs out of them. SA 100/4 (15 overs).

 

16:02 (IST): WICKET! Hashim Amla c & b Corey Anderson 41. A freak dismissal! It took Duminy's bat on the non-strikers end and went up in the air, only to be caught safely by Corey Anderson, who claimed the catch that was given out by the umpire. South Africa 97/4 (14 overs). David Miller is walking out to bat.

 

15:49 (IST): At the halfway stage, South Africa are 61/3 (10 overs). Hashim Amla (32*), JP Duminy (7*). South Africa have to worry about a lot of things including the run-rate. They can't just afford to win here, they have to win convincingly if they want to put themselves in contention of reaching the semifinals.

 

15:44 (IST): South Africa 57/3 (9 overs). Hashim Amla (30*), JP Duminy (5*). Amla doing a good job for South Africa again. If JP Duminy can score freely at the other end, South Africa may well be on their road to recovery.

 

15:33 (IST): WICKET! AB de Villiers b Nathan McCullum 5. South Africa 42/3 (6.4 overs). South Africa under a lot of pressure here.

 

15:25 (IST): WICKET! Faf du Plessis c Nathan McCullum b Southee 13. South Africa 32/2 (5 overs). Du Plessis got two boundaries in that over from Southee but chipped the last ball to cover where Nathan McCullum caught it comfortably. He was living dangerously anyway while trying to clear the boundary for huge sixes but was not getting the distance.

 

15:16 (IST): WICKET! Quinton de Kock c Luke Ronchi b Kyle Mills 4. South Africa 16/1 (3 overs). That's a disaster! De Kock came forward on a slightly short of a length delivery against Mills, trying to smash it away for a boundary but instead produced a bottom edge only to be caught behind safely by the wicketkeeper.

 

15:10 (IST): South Africa 3/0 (1 over) vs New Zealand. Quinton de Kock (2*), Hashim Amla (1*). Good over from Kyle Mills consisting of length deliveries mainly.

 

Playing XIs

New Zealand

Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Colin Munro, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan

South Africa

Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

 

14:35 (IST): New Zealand win the toss and elect to bowl first vs South Africa at Chittagong. Faf Du Plessis is back as captain for South Africa and says he wanted to bat anyway.

 

Match Preview:

New Zealand play South Africa in the first ICC World Twenty20 match on March 24, after having gained confidence from their 9-run win (Duckworth-Lewis method) over England in their opener. Chasing a challenging 173-run target, New Zealand were 52-1 after 5.2 overs when heavy rain came down following a burst of thunder, which halted the Group One match played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium on Saturday.

After a 25-minute delay when the umpires were due to inspect the ground, the rain started to fall again, prompting them to declare the end of the match and New Zealand the winners on the Duckworth-Lewis formula, used in the event of rain.

New Zealand needed to score 43 in 5.2 overs on the D/L method, which ruled them the winners. Kane Williamson was unbeaten on 24 and with him skipper Brendon McCullum was on 16 when the match ended abruptly.

On the other hand, South Africa lost to Sri Lanka by 5 runs in their first game in a closely contested affair at Chittagong on Saturday. Chasing Sri Lanka's 165/7, South Africa needed 15 off the final over but Lasith Malinga kept a tight line and despite a last ball six by tail-ender Imran Tahir, Sri Lanka claimed the win.

Over the years, both South Africa and New Zealand have set high standards of fitness and fielding in the limited-overs format. South Africa lost all their games in the previous edition of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in 2012. However, the Kiwis are by no means taking them lightly. "We have got a lot of respect for them, they're a very good side in all formats. We're looking forward to the challenge of playing against some of the best players in the world," said Kiwi batsman Kane Williamson on the eve of the match.

South African batting all-rounder JP Duminy says his side will have to be at their best to beat the Kiwis. "They are a tough challenge, definitely. I guess if you look at the way they've been playing the last few months, they've come into this tournament with a lot of confidence, so it's going to be an uphill battle for us, but I'm confident that we have the armoury to give ourselves the best chance. They're a really good side, especially in the shorter formats, so we're going to have to bring our A-game on Monday," Duminy told reporters.

Duminy also stresses that the loss against Sri Lanka has put added pressure on his side. "There's always going to be that added pressure on us now, depending on how other results go we're probably going to have to win all three. We want to make sure that we give ourselves the best chance in this tournament and that unfortunately means winning the last three games. That's what it is and we're going to have to play accordingly," he said.

The Proteas have been sweating over fitness of their skipper Faf du Plessis and ace speedster Dale Steyn. Where injured Du Plessis is likely to miss the game, Steyn has a good chance of playing. "We hope Faf is good to go by the next game," said Duminy. "As for Dale Steyn, he was obviously fit to play and he put in a good performance, bar the first over. He's a guy that is the X-factor for us so we're going to need his services," he said.

Squads:

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (capt), Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Colin Munro, Anton Devcich, Corey Anderson, Jimmy Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wk), Tim Southee, Kyle Mills, Nathan McCullum, Mitchell McClenaghan, Trent Boult, Ronnie Hira.