Chittagong: JP Duminy blasted an unbeaten 86 and Dale Steyn bowled a sensational last over as South Africa pulled of a dramatic two-run win over New Zealand to bring their World Twenty20 campaign back on track here on Monday.
Riding on Duminy’s blistering knock, South Africa collected 70 runs in the last five overs and posted a challenging 170 for six after being invited to bat in the thrilling Group 1 match.
The left-hander single handedly took his side to a formidable total as he hit 10 fours and three sixes in his 43-ball innings.
The Kiwis were cruising towards the target with Ross Taylor (62) and Kane Williamson (51) batting superbly but leg-spinner Imran Tahir (2-27) and Steyn (4-17) took wickets at key moments to turn the tide in South Africa’s favour.
New Zealand needed seven runs off the last over, in which Steyn scalped two batsmen, effected a run out and conceded just a boundary as the Kiwis ended at 168 for eight.
Steyn was too hot to handle for the Kiwi batsmen as he removed Luke Ronchi off the first ball. He next bowled two dot balls, conceded a four on the fourth and dismissed Nathan McCullum on the fifth.
Taylor was on strike with his side needing three to win off the last ball but he ended up running himself out.
South Africa had lost their first match to Sri Lanka while New Zealand had defeated England.
Brief scores:
SA: 170/6, 20 overs (JP Duminy 86*, H Amla 41; C Anderson 2-28, T Southee 2-46)
NZ: 168/8, 20 overs (R Taylor 62, K Williamson 51; D Steyn 4-17, I Tahir 2-27)
Meanwhile, in the other match of the day, Sri Lanka recorded the fastest ever victory in a T20 International as they thrashed the Netherlands by nine wickets in just five overs.
Put into bat, minnows Netherlands could survive just 10.3 overs as they were shot out for a miniscule 39, the lowest ever completed innings total in a T20 International history and the Lankans took just 30 deliveries to chase down the target.
Sri Lanka’s win was the largest margin of victory in terms of balls remaining as they overhauled the target – by reaching 40/1 – with 15 overs to spare.
The previous largest margin of victory in terms of balls remaining in a T20I was Ireland’s 10-wicket victory over Kenya in Dubai in March 2012, which was achieved with 12.4 overs to spare.
With this victory, their second on the trot, Sri Lanka are on top of Group 1 with four points from two matches.
Brief scores:
Neth: 39/10, 10.3 overs (T Cooper 16; A Mendis 3-12, A Mathews 3-16)
SL: 40/1, 5 overs (K Perera 14; A Malik 1-18) (PTI)
