Twitter Reactions South Africa steal the show in one-off T20I

The Proteas after a successful home series against Sri Lanka where they won all the Test, as well as ODI matches travelled all the way to New Zealand to play the Black Caps in one T20I, 5 ODIs and 3 Test matches. Things went underway with the only T20I today at the Eden Park, Auckland. Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. The idea was to have a total on the board and know what they were chasing.

It started off as planned when Trent Boult dismissed dangerous Quinton de Kock for a duck. But the other opener Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis then had an 87-run partnership for the second wicket. Du Plessis departed for 36 and Amla also fell for 62. AB de Villiers who is also celebrating his 33rd birthday today started well but was dismissed for 26 and JP Duminy was run out for 29. A few blows in the lower order and South Africa finished their 20 overs with 185 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Boult was the best bowler for the Black Caps as he finished his 4 overs for 8 runs and picked 2 wickets.

New Zealand in their chase were never quite in the hunt. Chris Morris sent Glenn Philips back on the first ball of the third over on the very next ball he clean bowled Colin Munro for a golden duck. Things got worse as Williamson was dismissed by Phelukwayo. At the half way stage, the Black Caps were 5 down for 60 in 10.3 overs.

Tom Bruce was the top scorer with 33 runs and Tim Southee’s 20 at No.10 was the second best. Imran Tahir the No.1 T20I bowler ran through the Kiwi batting attack and it took him just 3.5 overs to claim a five-wicket haul; his first in T20I cricket and the opposition was bowled out for just 107 in 14.5 overs. With that, the Proteas won the match by a huge 78 runs margin.

Here is how Twitter reacted during the game: