SA back in Champions Trophy contention
Saturday, 26 September 2009
CENTURION, South Africa, Sept 25 (AFP): South Africa bounced back into contention for 2009 ICC Champions Trophy glory with a five-wicket triumph over New Zealand at SuperSport Park Thursday.
Upset by Sri Lanka in the opening match of the ODI tournament two days ago, the Proteas had to win and did so with relative ease before a large, holiday crowd.
New Zealand were all out for 214 in 47.5 overs and South Africa cruised to 217-5 in 41.1 overs and another win Sunday over England would virtually assure the hosts of a place in the knockout phase.
The 'Black Caps', who may have erred in excluding Jeetan Patel for a match on a spin-friendly pitch, face Sri Lanka and England at the Wanderers stadium and a couple of victories would bring them back into the frame.
AB de Villiers was a fitting matchwinner, sealing success with a four having top scored for the Proteas with an unbeaten 70 in 76 balls, including nine boundaries.
"This was a big day for us and we stood up to deliver a much improved performance. Our bowlers set the tone in the first 15 overs with good intensity and they hit the right areas hard," said South Africa skipper Graeme Smith.
"It was a clinical job well started and well finished and the result will improve our run rate. Now we are going to prepare well for our match against England."
Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori said: "Our batsmen got bogged down as we sought a competitive score of about 250 runs. Ross (Taylor) and Grant (Elliott) handled the spinners well but the partnership did not last long enough."
Once again Smith won the toss and once again he opted to field on a dry, slow, uneven early season track that gave the spinners assistance in warm, partly cloudy conditions.
South Africa 217 for 5 (de Villiers 70*) beat New Zealand 214 (Taylor 72, Parnell 5-57) by five wickets.
Upset by Sri Lanka in the opening match of the ODI tournament two days ago, the Proteas had to win and did so with relative ease before a large, holiday crowd.
New Zealand were all out for 214 in 47.5 overs and South Africa cruised to 217-5 in 41.1 overs and another win Sunday over England would virtually assure the hosts of a place in the knockout phase.
The 'Black Caps', who may have erred in excluding Jeetan Patel for a match on a spin-friendly pitch, face Sri Lanka and England at the Wanderers stadium and a couple of victories would bring them back into the frame.
AB de Villiers was a fitting matchwinner, sealing success with a four having top scored for the Proteas with an unbeaten 70 in 76 balls, including nine boundaries.
"This was a big day for us and we stood up to deliver a much improved performance. Our bowlers set the tone in the first 15 overs with good intensity and they hit the right areas hard," said South Africa skipper Graeme Smith.
"It was a clinical job well started and well finished and the result will improve our run rate. Now we are going to prepare well for our match against England."
Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori said: "Our batsmen got bogged down as we sought a competitive score of about 250 runs. Ross (Taylor) and Grant (Elliott) handled the spinners well but the partnership did not last long enough."
Once again Smith won the toss and once again he opted to field on a dry, slow, uneven early season track that gave the spinners assistance in warm, partly cloudy conditions.
South Africa 217 for 5 (de Villiers 70*) beat New Zealand 214 (Taylor 72, Parnell 5-57) by five wickets.