South Africa put one foot in the next round of the T20 World Cup, climbing two points clear at the top of Group D after coasting to a seven-wicket win over New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Set a target of 176 for victory, the Proteas were anchored by captain Aiden Markram who contributed a career-best 86 not out off 44 balls at the top of the order, guiding his team to 178/3 with 17 balls to spare.
Markram, who hit his 13th T20 International half-century, was backed up by Quinton de Kock (20), Ryan Rickelton (21), Dewald Brevis (21) and David Miller (24 not out) who all played supporting roles.
Black Caps bowlers Lockie Ferguson, Jimmy Neesham and Rachin Ravindra each took a wicket but they failed to contain the Proteas who took full control to take a big step closer to the Super 8 stage of the global showpiece.
New Zealand innings
Earlier, after losing the toss and being sent in to bat, New Zealand got off to a decent start in the powerplay, though they lost early wickets with Proteas seamer Marco Jansen bowling a destructive spell, and they were 64/4 in the seventh over.
They were stabilised, however, by a 72-run stand between middle-order batters Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell.
The stand was broken by Jansen, who had Chapman (48 off 26) caught by Ryan Rickelton at backward point in the 14th over.
And two overs later Mitchell (32 off 24) tried to crush a Lungi Ngidi delivery but couldn’t get under it and was caught by Tristan Stubbs at long on.
After they were removed, lower-order batter James Neesham added a cameo knock, contributing 23 not out off 15 balls to carry his team to 175/7.
Jansen was more expensive than he would have liked, but he did well to keep pressure on the New Zealand line-up by taking career-best T20 International figures of 4/40 to lead the Proteas attack.
Looking ahead
With the SA team remaining unbeaten at the top of the Group D table, they will qualify for the Super 8 stage of the tournament if Afghanistan beat United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their match to be played in Delhi on Monday.
South Africa will play their last game of the opening round against UAE in Delhi on Wednesday.
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