De Villiers’ hunger leads to thumping win over NZ

WELLINGTON: South African hero AB de Villiers admitted to nerves and battling a fear of failure as he produced a record-setting innings that led to a colossal win over New Zealand on Saturday.

Only a “deep, deep hunger to succeed,” helped him overcome his emotions to lead his side to a 159-run win in the third One-day International (ODI) here to go 2-1 up in the five-match series.

De Villiers’ 85 off 80 balls pulled South Africa out of a middle-order slump during a match-changing innings in which he became the fastest players to reach 9,000 ODI runs.

South Africa eventually reached 271 for eight in their 50 overs before Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo led a bowling attack that rolled New Zealand for 112 in 32.2 overs.

As South Africa produced an emphatic response after losing to New Zealand in the second match on Wednesday, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was left to wonder how his side could be outsmarted in home conditions.

“They certainly deserved the win, they outplayed us,” he said.

South Africa were keen to bat first when they won the toss and while they had their jitters de Villiers had support from Quinton de Kock (68) to give their innings some respectability.

New Zealand’s reply started disastrously with openers Tom Latham (nought) and Dean Brownlie (two) gone inside three overs.

Williamson struggled to 23 when he was bowled by Phehlukwayo and Ross Taylor (18) went lbw to Pretorius in the following over.

Colin de Grandhomme’s unbeaten 34 and Jimmy Neesham’s 13 where the only other scores in double figures as Pretorius took three for five off 32 deliveries and Phehlukwayo finished with two for 12 off 30 balls.

Amla went early for seven but de Kock had no problems as he posted his fifth successive half century following innings of 55 and 109 against Sri Lanka and then 69 and 57 in the first two matches of this five-game series.

Faf du Plessis offered some support with 36 but otherwise there was little resistance until de Villiers set up the big finish supported by Wayne Parnell who added 35 at the tail.

Of the 18 batsmen in the 9,000-plus club, de Villiers has the best average of 54.04 and best strike rate of 100.00.

De Grandhomme, who took the wickets of de Kock and du Plessis in the space of four balls had the best figures for New Zealand of two for 40.

Score Board

South Africa won toss

South Africa

†Q de Kock c Neesham b de Grandhomme 68

H M Amla c Williamson b Southee    7

F du Plessis c Southee b de Grandhomme  36

*A B de Villiers c Neesham b Boult  85

J P Duminy run out   16

D A Miller c Broom b Santner         3

D Pretorius b Ferguson        11

W D Parnell run out   35

A L Phehlukwayo not out      1

Extras (lb 2, w 7)     9

Total (8 wickets; 50 overs)  271

Did not bat: Imran Tahir, K Rabada

Fall: 1-41, 2-114, 3-115, 4-157, 5-164, 6-180, 7-264, 8-271

Bowling: Southee 10-0-66-1 (2w); Boult 10-0-47-1; Ferguson 10-0-71-1 (3w); de Grandhomme 10-0-40-2 (2w); Santner 10-0-45-1

New Zealand innings

D G Brownlie c de Kock b Rabada   2

†T W M Latham c Duminy b Parnell 0

*K S Williamson b Phehlukwayo      23

L R P L Taylor lbw b Pretorius         18

N T Broom c Amla b Phehlukwayo   0

J D S Neesham c & b Parnell 13

M J Santner b Pretorius       1

C de Grandhomme not out   34

T G Southee c de Kock b Rabada    5

L H Ferguson b Imran         4

T A Boult c de Villiers b Pretorius     4

Extras (w 8)   8

Total (all out; 32.2 overs)    112

Fall: 1-2, 2-11, 3-48, 4-48, 5-51, 6-58, 7-77, 8-82, 9-95, 10-112

Bowling: Rabada 10-0-39-2 (2w); Parnell 8-0-33-2; Phehlukwayo 5-0-12-2 (1w); Pretorius 5.2-1-5-3; Imran 4-1-23-1 (1w)

Result: South Africa won by 159 runs

Series: South Africa lead the 5-match series by 2-1

Man of the Match: A B de Villiers (South Africa)

Umpires: C M Brown and J S Wilson (West Indies). TV umpire: P R Reiffel (Australia). Match referee: J Srinath (India)