The Proteas made efficient use of competent bowling that made the Black Caps batting appear as though the batsmen were suffering from an acute vision problem.
The South African side demolished the Kiwis by 159 runs on the Blacks Caps’ home pitch to take a 2 – 1 match lead in the five-match one-day international series.
The Proteas’ bowling was an exhibition of almost clinical precision, dismissing the hosts for 112. The best batting performance was turned in by Colin de Grandhomme, an anemic 34 not out from 34 balls.
Not since 2007, when the Sri Lankans dismissed the Black Caps for 73 has the New Zealand team turned in such a dismal display of batting ineptitude.
This next statistic is going to seem like a prime example of alternative facts, but Black Caps batsmen Tom Latham, Neil Broom, Mitchell Santner and Dean Brownlie accounted for just three runs.
Batting woes have been an Achilles heel for the New Zealanders for some time, with entirely too much reliance placed on Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. If those two are not producing, the side’s chances of winning are not in any way optimal.
Williamson needed 40 balls to get a paltry 23, whilst Taylor could only muster 18 from the same number of balls.
Players blamed the drop-in surface for stopping singles before they could make it to the outfield. It would seem that this issue could be averted by walloping a few fours and sixes, but who are we to say?