|
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa, Oct 23 (AFP): Justin Kemp hit a power-packed 73 as South Africa squeezed a two-wicket win in the first one-day international against New Zealand at Springbok Park Sunday.
Kemp shared successive stands of 65 with Mark Boucher (33) for the sixth wicket and Shaun Pollock (37) for the seventh as South Africa pulled off a victory that stretched their unbeaten streak to 15 one-day internationals.
There was a wobble towards the end when Pollock and Kemp were both caught on the boundary within the space of three balls in the 49th over against off-spinner Jeetan Patel when only three runs were needed.
But Nicky Boje hit a two off the first ball of the final over from Shane Bond before, with all the fielders up to prevent a single, he skied the third delivery just out of the reach of a diving New Zealand captain, Stephen Fleming, for the winning run.
Both Kemp and Pollock survived chances before taking South Africa to their target of 250.
Kemp hit a return catch to Nathan Astle when he was on eight and made the medium-pacer pay dearly in his next over when he took 22 off Astle, including two fours and two successive sixes.
Pollock was also dropped on eight when Patel at deep midwicket missed a chance off Kyle Mills.
Fleming said New Zealand's 249 for eight was a "reasonable total" on a slow pitch against accurate bowling and lively fielding.
Craig McMillan top-scored with 66 and shared a fifth wicket stand of 75 off 103 balls with Jacob Oram (35).
Fleming made a sparkling 45 off 48 balls with nine boundaries but the batsmen generally had difficulty in pushing the score along on a pitch that was unusually slow for Bloemfontein.
New Zealand made a horror start in the field when Shane Bond sent down two wides in the first over, both of which went for four extra runs. The over cost 17 runs.
|