Kerr sisters and Devine put New Zealand 1-0 ahead in T20I series against South Africa
Written by I Dig Sports
Published in
Cricket
Saturday, 14 October 2023 11:03
New Zealand 174 for 2 (A Kerr 70*, Devine 61*) beat South Africa 172 for 4 (Wolvaardt 53, Luus 45, J Kerr 2-41) by eight wickets
After three abandoned fixtures, South Africa and New Zealand finally met in the 4th T20I in Benoni, where an unbeaten 135-run partnership between Amelia Kerr (70*) and Sophie Devine (61*) sealed the win for the visitors by eight wickets.
Their half-centuries helped New Zealand recover after losing both openers in the chase of 173 inside the powerplay, and after that, their partnership, including 14 fours and three sixes, didn't give South Africa a way in. It is also the highest partnership for the third wicket for New Zealand, breaking the record of 124 previously held by Katey Martin and Amy Sattherthwaite. Masabata Klaas and Tumi Sekhukhune took a wicket apiece, but were also expensive, conceding 75 runs in their combined seven overs.
In their batting innings, South Africa made a promising 172 for 4 after being asked to bat first at the toss, on the back of Laura Wolvaardt's ninth half-century. She helped South Africa stitch a 53-run partnership with Anneke Bosch and a 37-run partnership with Sune Luus, but the skipper fell for 53, in the 16th over, to Hannah Rowe. Luus, with her unbeaten 30-ball 45, and Chloe Tryon (22 off 10) provided the late flourish as South Africa hit 67 runs in the last five overs, but eventually their target was chased with seven balls to spare.
The fifth and final T20I in the series will be played in Benoni again on Sunday.
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