New Zealand vs South Africa, 5th ODI at Auckland, Mar 04 2017, South Africa tour of New Zealand

RESULT
5th ODI (D/N), Auckland, March 04, 2017, South Africa tour of New Zealand
(32.2/50 ov, T:150) 150/4

South Africa won by 6 wickets (with 106 balls remaining)

Player Of The Match
3/25
kagiso-rabada
Match centre 
Scores: Sanjay Murari | Comms: Varun Shetty
Scorecard summary
New Zealand 149/10(41.1 overs)
South Africa 150/4(32.2 overs)

The last time AB de Villiers and South Africa were at Eden Park in an ODI, it ended with them in tears and at pains to come to terms with what had happened. Tonight, they lift the trophy with a smile. Certainly, this does not compare to a win in a World Cup semifinal, but beating New Zealand in New Zealand is a big deal. Not only do South Africa leave Eden Park with fonder memories, they leave it with the No. 1 ranking in their possession too. It was a somewhat antithetical, one-sided finish to an otherwise well-fought series. Plenty to still look forward to as the teams switch to whites with the first Test beginning on Wednesday. Hope to see you then and thank you for joining us.

AB de Villiers - We won quite a few tosses in the series and it made it a little bit easier. It is not often that a series goes to 2-2, credit to New Zealand for making this a tough series. Great effort overall. I don't think it was quick as it is normally here. It was quite slow and moved around a bit. They came back well, they are always a team that squeezes really well. They put the pressure back on us and it is always easy to go into a negative mindset in such a situation. But fantastic knocks from both Faf and David Miller. I'll be up watching the Test series in the morning. I'll miss the guys, but I look forward to spending some time with family before I go back to playing more cricket.

Kane Williamson - Credit to AB and the Proteas for outplaying us in the match. I think there were a lot of positives with the ball. I think what you need to do is put a score on the board that forces the opposition to take a few more risks. They bowled pretty well, they deserve everything they achieved tonight, but from our perspective, we will look to improve and come back hard. We need to put in those complete performances and show the signs of improvement. This summer at home, particularly, we have played a number of series against some of the top oppositions in the world and it has shown us where we need to improve. It has been a great summer, we are a little tough on ourselves, I guess, after today, but generally, there were some good parts both today and in the summer.

Kagiso Rabada - The day before the game was actually trying to get some rest to make sure I had the edge coming into the game. But we have seen how this wicket plays and the management gave us some pointers about what to do, and we also got a few pointers from the T20 from a few days ago and tonight we were able to execute our plans well. We are looking forward to the Tests, we have a few new guys coming in. looking forward to taking out skills from One-Day cricket to Tests and doing well there.

Kagiso Rabada is the Man of the Match for his 3 for 35.

Presentation time.

8.22pm And that's the series, folks. South Africa huffed and puffed to get there, but you'll have to classify this as a comfortable win in the end. That's usually how things go if you put on 149 in a 50 over game.

32.2
4
Boult to du Plessis, FOUR runs

a classy shot to bring up the series win and retain No.1 on the rankings. Short ball at off stump from around the wicket, he hangs back with all the composure he's shown today and pulls it in front of square with disdain. That was a leader's innings, and it will show as his 26th half-century

32.1
1
Boult to Miller, 1 run

dropped! Short at middle stump, tries to finish this game with a pull shot. Goes with hard hands, gets a top edge to fine leg. Patel runs in, but slows down towards the end and he has to therefore go low to try and catch it - too low, no catch

end of over 322 runs
SA: 145/4CRR: 4.53 RRR: 0.27
Faf du Plessis47 (89b 5x4)
David Miller44 (34b 6x4 2x6)
Mitchell Santner 2-0-9-0
Trent Boult 9-0-39-0
31.6
Santner to du Plessis, no run

good length at middle, it's an arm ball and it slides back to catch him on the pads, bowler appeals, going down leg

31.5
Santner to du Plessis, no run

good length at middle stump, flicked to midwicket

31.4
Santner to du Plessis, no run

full at off stump, driven back to the bowler

31.3
1
Santner to Miller, 1 run

tosses it up liberally outside off from around, well wide from Miller's arc and he gets the bottom of the bat as he goes for the slog sweep. Rolls down to long-on

31.2
1
Santner to du Plessis, 1 run

back of a length at middle stump, goes back and tucks it into the leg side

31.1
Santner to du Plessis, no run

good length at off stump, pushed to covers

end of over 315 runs
SA: 143/4CRR: 4.61 RRR: 0.36
David Miller43 (33b 6x4 2x6)
Faf du Plessis46 (84b 5x4)
Trent Boult 9-0-39-0
Tim Southee 10-1-40-0
30.6
Boult to Miller, no run

bouncer at off stump, fends at it awkwardly, but it lands safely

30.5
Boult to Miller, no run

yorker at leg stump, pushed to mid-on

30.4
1
Boult to du Plessis, 1 run

back of a length, angled into the corridor, squeezes it out to third man

30.3
Boult to du Plessis, no run

full at off stump, punched to mid-off

30.2
Boult to du Plessis, no run

good length at off stump from around the wicket, defended off the back foot

30.1
4
Boult to du Plessis, FOUR runs

back of a length outside off, after a lot of scrapping around, du Plessis finally has the field in and he punches this beautifully off the back foot to bisect point and cover

end of over 3012 runs
SA: 138/4CRR: 4.60 RRR: 0.60
David Miller43 (31b 6x4 2x6)
Faf du Plessis41 (80b 4x4)
Tim Southee 10-1-40-0
Trent Boult 8-0-34-0

That's fifty of the partnership, Miller's got 43 of those

29.6
Southee to Miller, no run

back of a length at middle stump, defended to short midwicket

29.5
6
Southee to Miller, SIX runs

and now he shows the next version - steps out again, flat-bats again, this time goes aerial and slams the sight screen flat

29.4
4
Southee to Miller, FOUR runs

geez. Butchered? Slaughtered? Hammered? Could be any one of those. Back of a length outside off, gives him the charge and flat-bats it past his boot

Mbali: "This why I rate Miller...pity SA does not play at the right position. AB at 4 and Miller at 5 is the best. Takes his time, the hitting is natural for this guy but he has some techniqur as well."

29.3
Southee to Miller, no run

short at off stump, short-arm jab, on the bounce to short midwicket

29.2
1
Southee to du Plessis, 1 run

back of a length outside off, runs it down to third man

29.1
1
Southee to Miller, 1 run

good length at leg stump, turned down to fine leg

DirkL: "SA should put some work in before the Champions' Trophy on the ease with which off-spinners get rid of their left-handers. Maybe have Piedt in the squad if only to give decent net practice to QdK and Duminy."

Best performances - batters
Spike Graph
Wagon Zone
F du Plessis
51 runs (90)
6 fours0 six
Productive shot
pull
11 runs
2 fours0 six
Control
85%
DA Miller
45 runs (35)
6 fours2 sixes
Productive shot
pull
13 runs
1 four1 six
Control
83%
Best performances - bowlers
K Rabada
O
7.1
M
1
R
25
W
3
ECO
3.48
FTYFGSGS
OFFLEG
RHB
1W
1W
LEGOFF
LHB
1W
Imran Tahir
O
10
M
0
R
14
W
2
ECO
1.4
FTYFGSGS
OFFLEG
RHB
2W
LEGOFF
LHB
Match details
Eden Park, Auckland
TossSouth Africa, elected to field first
Series
Season2016/17
Player Of The Match
Series resultSouth Africa won the 5-match series 3-2
Match numberODI no. 3846
Hours of play (local time)14.00 start, First Session 14.00-17.30, Interval 17.30-18.15, Second Session 18.15-21.45
Match days04 March 2017 - daynight (50-over match)
Umpires
TV Umpire
Reserve Umpire
Match Referee
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