New Zealand stand-in skipper Tom Latham feels they should have restricted South Africa to 330 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Wednesday. The Kiwis decided to put the opposition into bat and the Proteas once again put on a masterclass with the bat.
Quinton de Kock continued his rich vein of form as he scored his fourth century of the ODI World Cup 2023. The left-hander scored 114 runs off just 116 balls with the help of 10 fours and three sixes. The southpaw brought his century with a six whereas Rassie van der Dussen also scored a majestic knock of 133 runs.
The pair added 200 runs for the second wicket alliance as they batted at the top of their game. Subsequently, David Miller added the finishing as he completed his fifty off just 29 balls as he took the Blackcaps bowlers to the cleaners.
Thus, South Africa continued their batting juggernaut in the first innings as they posted an above-par score of 357 runs. On the other hand, New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals and they were bundled out for a paltry score of 167 and lost by a huge margin of 190 runs, which took a hit on their NRR.
Tom Latham admitted it was not their best performance as he said in the post-match presentation, “Not our best performance. We were under pressure after that partnership (between de Kock and Rassie.) It was a big score. From the batting point of view, we had to have those partnerships, but we had our back against the wall. Those two played fantastically well. Should have restricted them to 330-odd, that would have been better.”
He added, “It was a small ground and a good surface, but we couldn’t do much in those first 10 overs. I think they put themselves in a great position, we were not able to build partnerships, that was disappointing. We have faced adversities with injuries. We will reflect on to this one quickly and move to the next one to be played at Banglaore (vs Pakistan). We don’t become a bad team overnight.”
New Zealand have now lost three matches on the bounce and they will certainly need to turn the tables. The Kiwis will next face Pakistan at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Saturday.
