After dominating the first game, South Africa were brought back down to planet Earth by New Zealand as the hosts made a roaring comeback to win the contest by 68 runs and level the series 1-1 with 3 more games to go in the series. It was another case of team winning the toss and losing the match. New Zealand faced it in the first game and South Africa faced it in this second game. The Kiwis outplayed their opponents in all facets of the game and deserve the series levelling win.
There were areas where South Africa were found wanting and lagging behind in this game and in this article we will try and decipher three key aspects where the Proteas lost out to the Kiwis.
Lagging behind in powerplay in both innings put South Africa on back foot
Powerplay is a key phase of the game and this is the phase where the tone is set for the team to do well or be on the back foot. South Africa failed to nail the powerplay overs in both the innings. After picking up 5 wickets in the first match against New Zealand, South Africa failed to get any breakthroughs while opting to chase. Not that New Zealand ran away with the game, but the Kiwis made a solid steady start through Devon Conway and Tom Latham.
The duo scored 43 in 6 overs which is steady start and not fast but a decent one at that laying the platform for the big hitters to do their job. That is what exactly happened later on. But the base and start are important in these conditions as runs can be made up later on with wickets in hand. Contrary to the chase, South Africa never got going and lost a couple of wickets in the powerplay as the openers Connor Esterhuizen and Wiaan Mulder struggled and failed in powerplay. The score for South Africa was 31/2 after their powerplay of 6 overs before de Zorzi lost his wicket in the first ball of the 7th over.
So, South Africa after powerplay was 12 runs behind New Zealand and lost two extra wickets compared to the hosts. This difference may look very little but is huge in the context of a decent chase of 176. It meant from 31/3 in 6.1 overs, the Proteas were playing catch-up and while they showed some resistance, it was never going to be enough and a bridge too far for the Proteas. Nailing the powerplay in both innings is critical and South Africa would like to capitalize on it better in the next game.
Keshav Maharaj’s off-day compounds South Africa’s problems
South Africa managed to get wickets post the powerplay as Keshav Maharaj was the one who provided the breakthrough getting rid of Tom Latham. But the South African skipper after having a good day at the Bay Oval had a night to forget with the ball and with bat in Hamilton. Despite striking early and picking a wicket in his first over he bowled, Maharaj went the distance and taken to the cleaners by the New Zealand batters. Devon Conway took him on initially and then the rest followed suit.
Later on, Mitchell Santner, Nick Kelly and Josh Clarkson towards the end played useful hands as Maharaj was unable to stop them. Maharaj came to bowl post powerplay and did pick up a wicket first-up but still was taken for runs in the middle phase of the game. It always meant New Zealand were maintaining a decent run rate and with players to come, a strong finish was on the cards and it came from Josh Clarkson who with his 26* off 9 balls turned the game on its head.
Maharaj is an experienced campaigner and is expected to lead from the front. If not take wickets, keep the flow of runs under check. Maharaj did neither and had a rare off day in the second match. He will be expected to bounce back and as the leader of the team, he will have the job of leading from the front and motivate the team to do well as the series is nicely poised at 1-1.
Losing their last 5 wickets for 18 runs in 18 balls seals the fate of the matchÂ
Chasing 176 for a 2-0 series lead, South Africa were slow off the blocks in powerplay overs and lost 2 wickets to be 31/2 in 6 overs before another wicket was lost at the start of the 7th over as the Proteas were struggling at 31/3 in 6.1 overs. The visitors were still playing catch-up to the 176 chase, but showed some resistance to add a few more runs to the tally. George Linde in particular showed great guts in his 33 off 12 balls and kept the flag flying high for South Africa.
New Zealand kept taking wickets at regular intervals to chip away as the Proteas had lost half their side for 67 in 10.4 overs and then took the score to 89 in the 13th over. The game was as good as over despite some important partnerships that kept the scoreboard ticking but from this 13th over onwards, the inevitable collapse happened. Dian Forrester fell for 10 to Ben Sears and the floodgates opened from here in full flow. Gerald Coetzee came and went for 2 to Sears.
Lockie Ferguson got into the act and dismissed Keshav Maharaj for a golden duck and Nqobani Mokoena for a golden duck as the bowler was on a hat-trick which was saved by Baartman. To put things into perspective, 4 wickets fell for the addition of 3 runs in the initial collapse in 6 balls. George Linde added 15 runs for the last wicket which included successive boundaries off Ferguson to start the 16th over before he was the last man to be dismissed. So, 5/18 was a collapse no doubt, but the initial one of 4/3 was the game clincher for New Zealand at the backend.
South Africa cannot afford to have collapses like this if they want to do well in the series. New Zealand had it in the first game twice and now Proteas here as we have been treated to two one-sided games to start the 5-match T20I series so far. The series is poised at 1-1 which is what everyone would have wanted but more competition helps one and all.
What Lies Ahead
The bandwagon moves to Eden Park in Auckland for the third T20I between New Zealand and South Africa on 20th March, 2026 Friday at 11:45 AM IST. The series is 1-1 and it remains to be seen who gets the bragging rights on Friday and edge ahead in this 5-match series. All to play for as this will be Mitchell Santner’s last match before he goes for a break and Tom Latham will take charge of proceedings for the last two matches.
We shall see how the game pans out in Auckland on Friday night.
Also Read: NZ vs SA: 3 Reasons For New Zealand’s Crushing Loss In 1st T20I