**Official** New Zealand in South Africa

[Athlai]

I sort of combine Guptill the T20 opener with Guptill the ODI opener in my reckoning of him in limited overs.

[straw man]

Originally Posted by Prince EWS

You know you want to pick Franklin.

Cannot believe Athlove did not pick Franklin in a format he's actually ok at. something iz rong

[Jono]

Brumby - your thoughts on Kane Williamson now?

[Athlai]

Franklin would be my first reserve for that team, followed by Elliott, followed by any other Wellington player.

[Athlai]

Looking at the stats from 08 (which is where we get pretty much the current team from) I'm actually quite impressed at the runs NcCullum has made. 4 50s to Vettori's 1 against top opposition. I had NFI.

Batting records | One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Surprised to see Watling with so many 50s too.

[uvelocity]

how the hell did williamson manage that. went to bed he was 15 off 30 or something and walking outside off before the ball was delivered asking for a leg stump yorker

[Jono]

we all know you don't own a bed

[uvelocity]

chix beg to differ

[Briony]

Looks like SA threw that away with run outs and with Amla, AB and Kallis missing they simply could not afford Faf to be run out so cheaply chasing a challenging total, super flat pitch or not.

While SA insist on playing the likes of Ingam (runs but on a belter) and Behardien, they will continue to struggle in this format. Kirsten has a lot of work to do (as he conceded at the start of the series) to get them to play with some consistency. Though like Australia, constant rotation and playing some ordinary commodities won't help.

Much needed win by the kiwis to provide some relief from a nightmare tour but they shouldn't be foolish enough to let some meaningless one-dayers paper over the massive cracks in their system.

Williamson's ton was a surprise. When I left the game he was struggling and looked a bit out of his depth as he did in the first match and as he did mightily so in the tests. He must have really ramped it up.

Guess Guptill would have to be finished now given that he struggled again even on this belter.

[Briony]

Originally Posted by Jono

Brumby - your thoughts on Kane Williamson now?

Williamson's innings means he can belt bowlers around on flat pitches with compromised rules but it doesn't really answer the question as to what he's like in test match cricket against the likes of Steyn with close-in fielders and some spice in the pitch to test the techniques and mettles of players. Why would people ask for a revision of an assessment of a player based on an ODI innings? The best thing it will do is give him confidence. Ingram making 79 at a reasonable SR shouldn't convince too many that he's the answer for SA either.

[Mike5181]

Originally Posted by Briony

Williamson's innings means he can belt bowlers around on flat pitches with compromised rules but it doesn't really answer the question as to what he's like in test match cricket against the likes of Steyn with close-in fielders and some spice in the pitch to test the techniques and mettles of players.

Well he did score a century against Steyn, Philander, Morkel, and de Lange just last year.

[Briony]

Originally Posted by TT Boy

Problem for NZ here is that they haven't got many wicket takers. Just been trundlers for the past few overs.
Problem for South Africa is that none of the rest of the batting lineup have form for chasing down totals. Smith has to bat right through you would think.
Would go back to Williamson and McCullum or give Munro a bowl.

Just about nailed it here. NZ lacked the bowlers but managed five run outs due to a combination of good fielding and injudicious running. SA again didn't have the middle-order to orchestrate a chase after the top order which was cruising, committed suicide.

[hendrix]

Originally Posted by Briony

but it doesn't really answer the question as to what he's like in test match cricket against the likes of Steyn with close-in fielders and some spice in the pitch to test the techniques and mettles of players

Yeah, I agree with this, but it was still a perfect ODI hundred.

He did not get bogged down in the middle overs against the spinners, nor did he throw his wicket away once he started cramping.

It was a perfect one day hundred from a number 3 batsman, and should've set NZ up for >300 were McCullum and co not so crap. Which is pretty impressive considering where we were after 10 overs.

[Athlai]

Guptill not going anywhere ftr.

T20 hundred vs. SA will buy him a lot of limited overs time.

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by Crazy Sam

How weird is this - the last time Australia had 5 run outs in an ODI, their score was identical to South Africa's tonight in the same number of overs, and SL only scored 5 runs less than NZ tonight. :O

2nd ODI: South Africa v New Zealand at Kimberley, Jan 22, 2013 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo
1st Final: Australia v Sri Lanka at Adelaide, Feb 10, 2006 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Incredible!!!!!!!!