New Zealand Women vs South Africa Women, 2020: 3rd T20I – 4th fifty in a row for Sophie Devine, A rare win for SA Women over NZ Women, End of NZ Women winning streaks and more stats

South Africa Women finally opened their account in the 5-match T20I series against New Zealand to reduce the home team’s lead to 2-1. Skipper Sophie Devine scored a 57-ball 77 with seven fours and four sixes as the New Zealand Women finished with 153/5. South Africa Women’s chase was a start-stop one as they kept losing wickets whenever they had a decent partnership. The equation came down to 52 from 33 balls and this is when Chloe Tryon took the charge of the run-chase with an unbeaten 34 from 16 balls as the visitors completed a win with 5 wickets and a ball to spare.

All the statistical highlights from South Africa Women’s first win in the T20I series:

A big chase by South Africa Women:

154 – The 154-run chase by South Africa Women in this game is the 2nd highest successful chase by any team in Women’s T20Is against New Zealand. The highest successful T20I chase against the White Ferns is 163 by Australia Women during the last year’s Sydney T20I. This is also the first time any team successfully chased down 150+ target in Women’s T20Is on New Zealand soil.

A rare win for South Africa against New Zealand:

5 – South Africa Women put an end to their 5-match losing streak against New Zealand Women in the T20I format. The last and only other win against the White Ferns in T20Is came was during the 2014 Women’s WT20. The New Zealand Women won the remaining 8 meetings against South Africa in T20Is.

End of New Zealand Women’s winning streaks:

10 – First time since the 2016-17 season, the New Zealand Women has lost a T20I match at home. They won all their previous ten T20I matches on New Zealand soil; their longest such streak in any country. New Zealand Women also had seven consecutive T20I wins before this victory; a streak that began during the 2018 Women’s WT20.

Devine extends her good run against South Africa:

6 – Sophie Devine became only the 2nd player with six or more 50+ scores against an opponent in Women’s T20Is. Devine has recorded six half-centuries across eight T20I innings against South Africa Women, Only Stafanie Taylor (7 in 20 innings against Sri Lanka) has more than six fifty-plus scores against an opponent in Women’s T20Is.

5* – Devine now has scored a fifty in each of her last five T20I innings against South Africa Women making her the first player with five successive fifty-plus scores against an opponent in the Women’s T20Is.

No player till date has achieved this feat in Men’s T20Is either. Devine scored 73 and 68* during the 2018 Tri-Nation T20I series in England and has scored fifties in all the three matches of the T20I series.

Devine brink on a world record:

4* – Sophie Devine has become only the 2nd player in Women’s T20I cricket with four consecutive fifty-plus scores. Mithali Raj was the first with this feat as she scored fifties in four consecutive T20I innings across 2016 and 2018. In Men’s T20I cricket, Brendon McCullum (2008-2009) and Chris Gayle (in 2012) have recorded four successive fifty-plus scores.

9 – Devine has picked up at least one wicket in nine T20Is where she scored a fifty. Stafanie Taylor (10) and Shane Watson (9) have achieved this double as many times as Devine across Men’s and Women’s T20I cricket.