New Zealand 289 for 4 (Taylor 102*, Neesham 71*, Williamson 69, Pretorious 2-40) beat South Africa 283 for 9 (De Kock 57, Pretorius 50, Boult 3-63) by six runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Ross Taylor was the fourth New Zealand batsman to reach 6000 ODI runs © AFP
South Africa’s lower order threatened another heist, but Trent Boult gave a glimpse of why he went for big money in the IPL by holding his nerve to help New Zealand secure a series-levelling six-run victory in Christchurch. Dwaine Pretorius’ 26-ball fifty almost wrestled the game away from New Zealand until Boult got his yorkers on target in the penultimate over. He then cleaned up Pretorius to make amends for dropping him in the deep on 15.
The win should have been much more comfortable for New Zealand when South Africa slipped to 214 for 8, but after Pretorius was shelled he kept finding the boundary. It came down to needing 20 off two overs when Boult, who had earlier claimed the key scalps of Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers but conceded 15 off his ninth over, only went for five runs of his last. Andile Phehlukwayo was unable to locate the boundary early in the last over bowled by Tim Southee and South Africa’s winning streak ended at 12.
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Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo