SA surmount Kiwis in a cliffhanger

New Delhi: An unbeaten 52 from 45 deliveries by AB de Villiers rallied South Africa to a 3-wicket victory in a nail biting finish against New Zealand in the one-off Twenty game at the New Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg on Friday.

Chasing a modest target of 130 the home side were on course till a middle order collapse allowed the Black Caps to crawl back in the game.

JP Duminy (33) and de Villiers batted authoritatively as the home side looked in control but after Duminy's dismissal the Kiwis fought back, sending back Boucher (7), Pollock (6), Morkel (9) and Philander (2) quickly to set a humdinger of a finish.

But a cool headed de Villiers held the fort for South Africa and a flick off the legs by Johan Botha (6) off the penultimate ball saw the Springboks home.

Earlier, a late blitz by pacer Kyle Mills took New Zealand to 129-7 in their allotted 20 overs. Mills top scored for the visitors with a fighting knock of 33 in 24 balls.

After South African skipper Graeme Smith put New Zealand in to bat, the home side looked to continue their domination from the Test series as the Black Caps failed to bring any momentum in the innings. None of the Kiwi batters could make any impact as South Africa with some disciplined bowling ran through their top order.

Shaun Pollock did the early damage picking the wickets of Brendon McCullam (9) and Jamie How (14) with only 34 runs on the board. Post the early losses, the Kiwi batsmen fell like ninepins with the home side tightening the screws by not allowing any of the batsmen to prosper in the middle.

Scott Styris held one end up for some time but with 27 runs against his name he fell to a Dale Steyn delivery in an attempt to accelerate the scoring rate.

New Zealand after Styris's dismissal were tottering at 98-7 in the 17th over but Mills with the rub of the green going his way was able to bring some respectability to the New Zealand total.

Teams:

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Shaun Pollock, Albie Morkel, Vernon Philander, Johan Botha, Charl Langeveldt, Dale Steyn.

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (wk), Lou Vincent, Jamie How, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Gareth Hopkins, DL Vettori (capt), Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie, Jeetan Patel, Michael Mason.