New Zealand v. Sth. Africa - 3rd. ODI

[Donny]

New Zealand team: (from)

MHW Papps, *SP Fleming, HJH Marshall, SB Styris, CD McMillan,
CL Cairns, JDP Oram, +BB McCullum, DL Vettori, KD Mills,
DR Tuffey, IG Butler, MJ Mason.

South Africa team: (from)

*GC Smith, HH Gibbs, JH Kallis, HH Dippenaar, JA Rudolph,
+MV Boucher, SM Pollock, L Klusener, RJ Peterson, M Ntini,
A Nel, JA Morkel, AG Prince, N Boje.

Start delayed. Outfield still wet.

[Donny]

Smith won the toss and elected to field first.

[Donny]

The match has been reduced to 38 overs each.

In the 19th. over, NZ is 0/100 as Fleming hits a six to go to 43 n.o. and Papps is 49 n.o.

Michael Papps debuted in the first of these ODIs and has scores of 14 & 2. He's 24.

Fleming goes for 43. 1/100

[Canberra]

New Zealand have just completed their innings. 5/245, a score that would be considered reasonable for a 50 over match. McMullen and Styris flogged 84 runs off 44 balls. That's a run rate of 11.45 an over.Kallis went for 9 an over and Ntini went for 8. McMullen and Styris hit 69 off the last four overs.

[Donny]

0/86 in the 13th. means Sth. Africa are well ahead of the asking rate.

Gibbs is 45 from 39 balls and Smith, 43 from 37
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1/120 in the 18th. over. Fleming made 43. Gibbs is 62 from 54 balls
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3/140. Gibbs out for 69 and Kallis for 16. Sryris has 2 wickets.
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5/147 as the complexion changes. Vettori claims Boucher for a duck. A vital wicket.

[Donny]

6/202 with 5 overs to come. 53 runs needed.

[commonwombat]

NZ will win this one EASY. Sth Africa having considerable problems translating the slow stopping NZ wickets and Smith's captaincy will go thru a steep learning curve dealing with the odd shaped grounds.

Sth Africa's middle order problems are still evident. Their top order ( Gibbs, Smith, Kallis & kirsten (tests)) is as formidable as any but the middle order is still terribly fragile. Why they persevere with a waste or space like Dippenaar is beyond comprehension.

My way would be give the likes of McKenzie, Rudolph and possibly Van Jaarsveld and Prince some sort of tenure in both or either form of the game. These named have at least shown a propensity to battle it out, a characteristic conspicuously absent in Dippenaar's make-up. This suad looks somewhat experimental, although some named have been more than enough chances.

[Donny]

31 needed from 9 balls with Pollock facing. 8 fours and a single needed.

Hits 2 twos and then a dot. Not good enough Shaun. Still can't count eh ?

Last over to come. Single. Pollock on strile. Sixes needed. Hits one and then a two. 3 sixes Shauny.

Go Shaun !! Hits a six. 2 more needed. Yes !! Another six !!

One more Shaun. Come on.

A great ball from Mills. Yorker speared in at leg stump. Pollock can only dig it out. NZ win by 5 runs.