AB hits the winning runs with a right royal thump over the top of mid-on and wide of the long-on fielder, what a hiding South Africa have handed out to the hosts tonight
173/4
(16/20 ov, T:174) 174/2
South Africa won by 8 wickets (with 24 balls remaining)
Match centre
Scores: Gopi Rangarajan
| Comms: Avi Singh
Scorecard summary
New Zealand • 173/4(20 overs)
Martin Guptill 47 (35)
Johan Botha1/22 (4)
Brendon McCullum 35 (31)
Morne Morkel1/38 (4)
South Africa • 174/2(16 overs)
Richard Levi *117 (51)
Nathan McCullum1/18 (2)
AB de Villiers *39 (36)
Rob Nicol1/10 (1)
end of over 1613 runs
SA: 174/2CRR: 10.87
AB de Villiers39 (36b 4x4)
Richard Levi117 (51b 5x4 13x6)
Tim Southee 4-0-40-0
Ronnie Hira 4-0-34-0
I don't know about you but I'm still catching my breath after that. Levi should take many plaudits tonight, and rightly so. I'm sure our stats team will be beavering through Statsguru to give you the stats that matter from tonight's onslaught. Levi will have a chance to repeat the effort at a ground with even smaller boundaries, Auckland's Eden Park, on Wednesday night. Do join us for the 3rd and deciding match then, as well as the curtain raiser between New Zealand Women and England Women beforehand starting at 2.45pm local time. Until then, this is Avi Singh signing off on behalf of Gopi and Firdose, hoping we get another cracker of a game on Wednesday!
Richard Levi is the blindingly obvious choice for Man of the Match: "It was good fun, every shot we seemed to play came off, AB kept me calm. The leg side boundary was quite short, so I targeted that. I have no idea about the records, the time just went unbelievably quickly." He apologised to Simon Doull for only getting a single when he got to his fifty!
AB de Villiers: "There's a few things we can learn, but overall I was very happy with keeping them to 170 with the short boundaries. Botha has very good plans and he keeps the batsmen under pressure. I was trying to tell Richard to get off strike once we were at 10 an over but he just kept sending them flying. He's been fed a bit of biltong back home, but he has done this before so it's not a one-off. We go to Auckland with momentum now, very happy."
Brendon McCullum: "We thought we had a chance with 173, we would have liked 190-200 but when someone plays like that, there's not too much we can do. Richard played an absolutely unbelievable innings, he was too good tonight and didn't allow us to bowl well. We just have to forget this quickly, this was a night off for the bowlers so they should come back well in the next game. We wanted early wickets but now we need to pick ourselves up, hope for a great crowd in Auckland."
Levi has smashed many records tonight - most sixes, equal-highest score, fastest hundred. But most of all he smashed New Zealand's spirit, and looted all the bowlers like a pickpocket with the gun to back up his audacious heists. New Zealand needed at least 200 - the way Levi was going, even 220 wouldn't have been safe. The boundaries may have been small, but most of his strokes would have been far too good on any outfield.
15.6
4
Southee to de Villiers, FOUR runs
15.5
1
Southee to Levi, 1 run
worked to deep backward square
15.4
4
Southee to Levi, FOUR runs
gets some luck as he inside edges his nemesis Southee pat the stumps and down to fine leg
15.4
1w
Southee to Levi, 1 wide
fired in down leg and Levi is beaten, but New Zealand are the ones who are already well and truly beaten
15.3
1
Southee to de Villiers, 1 run
full on middle and leg and worked away into the deep
15.2
2
Southee to de Villiers, 2 runs
smears a ball on leg into the deep at backward square
15.1
•
Southee to de Villiers, no run
end of over 1514 runs
SA: 161/2CRR: 10.73 • RRR: 2.60
Richard Levi112 (49b 4x4 13x6)
AB de Villiers32 (32b 3x4)
Ronnie Hira 4-0-34-0
Tim Southee 3-0-27-0
14.6
6
Hira to Levi, SIX runs
Levi hits the ball into Seddon Road, glad my car isn't parked there, he came down and launched this over wide long-on past the Northern Districts offices and out of the ground
14.5
1
Hira to de Villiers, 1 run
drives a full ball outside off into the covers
14.4
1
Hira to Levi, 1 run
backs away well outside leg and cuts into the deep
14.3
4
Hira to Levi, FOUR runs
Levi decides he hasn't hit enough fours tonight, so gets down on a knee and sweeps it through midwicket and out to the fence
14.2
1
Hira to de Villiers, 1 run
backs away and slaps past the bowler towards long-off
14.1
1
Hira to Levi, 1 run
comes down the track and drills it to long-off
end of over 1410 runs
SA: 147/2CRR: 10.50 • RRR: 4.50
AB de Villiers30 (30b 3x4)
Richard Levi100 (45b 3x4 12x6)
Tim Southee 3-0-27-0
Ronnie Hira 3-0-20-0
Cris: "Bowlers must think that there's a Levi-tation charm on the ball."
13.6
•
Southee to de Villiers, no run
full on the stumps, comes down and works to midwicket
13.5
4
Southee to de Villiers, FOUR runs
full on the pads and clipped away through backward square and this time the fielder can't cut it off
13.4
2
Southee to de Villiers, 2 runs
clips a full ball on leg into the deep where the fielder puts it in a superb effort on the fence to cut it off
13.4
1w
Southee to de Villiers, 1 wide
waist high full toss down leg and AB can't catch up with it trying to pull, 100 partnership up in 55 balls
13.3
•
Southee to de Villiers, no run
13.2
1
Southee to Levi, 1 run
there it is, the fastest ever Twenty20 International hundred from Richard Levi! What a maiden hundred to make for your country, drove a full ball outside off into the deep and shrieked in delight, kissed the badge and beamed a grin as wide as the Southern Ocean
13.1
2
Southee to Levi, 2 runs
full outside off and he drives through the covers into the deep, they rush back for a couple
Best performances - batters
RE LeviSA
117 runs (51)
5 fours13 sixes
Control
74%
Productive shot
pull/hook on front foot
27 runs
0 four4 sixes
47 runs (35)
7 fours1 six
Control
84%
Productive shot
leg glance
17 runs
3 fours0 six
Match details
| Seddon Park, Hamilton | |
| Toss | South Africa, elected to field first |
| Series | |
| Season | 2011/12 |
| Player Of The Match | |
| Series result | 3-match series level 1-1 |
| Match number | T20I no. 222 |
| Hours of play (local time) | 19.00 start, First Session 19.00-20.15, Interval 20.15-20.30, Second Session 20.30-21.50 |
| Match days | 19 February 2012 - night (20-over match) |
| T20I debut | Marchant de Lange |
| Umpires | |
| TV Umpire | |
| Reserve Umpire | |
| Match Referee | |
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