Highlighting the partnership between Bevon Jacobs and Tim Robinson, skipper Mitchell Santner opened up on New Zealand`s dominating performance against South Africa in the second T20 of the tri-series.
Speaking about the match, Santner said in the post-match press conference, “It was a great team performance. That partnership from Bev [Bevon Jacobs] and Robbo [Tim Robinson] was outstanding. The Proteas were put under pressure, especially in the powerplay. To get to 170, we were reasonable happy”.
“We had to bowl well, and we saw in both innings that if you can keep taking wickets throughout, you`re gonna be in a good place. Once you got in, you were able to capitalize, looked like a pretty tough wicket to start on in both innings,” he added.
New Zealand`s opening batsman, Tim Seifert, returned to the pavilion after scoring 22 runs off 16 balls, including four boundaries. Fellow opener, Devon Conway, was able to score just nine runs in seven balls, with the help of two boundaries.
Coming to bat at number three, Tim Robinson played an unbeaten knock of 75 runs off just 57 deliveries, which was laced with six boundaries and three maximums. Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Hay, and James Neesham departed on low scores. Robinson was then shouldered by Bevon Jacobs, who scored an unbeaten 44 runs in 30 balls, with the help of a boundary and three maximums.
Riding on their knocks, the `Black Caps` posted a total of 173 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs.
Speaking about his unbeaten knock, Robinson said, “It feels great to contribute to a win; it`s always fantastic. I obviously feel great. To contribute to a win is always fantastic. We got off to a rough start there, to keep going there with Bev was really nice. Credit to the Proteas bowlers, they bowled really well, especially when new batters came in. Bev and I were discussing to take it deep. It was a good wicket, and the ball seemed to fly. I thought it was a good surface. It was difficult to start, but once you got in, you could trust the wicket; it was beautiful to bat”.
Kwena Maphaka was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa as he grabbed two wickets and gave away 38 runs in his four overs with an economy of 9.50.
Later, Jacob Duffy and Matt Henry`s bowling domination restricted South Africa to 152 while chasing 174 to secure a comfortable 21-run win for New Zealand in the 2nd match of the Tri-series at Harare on Wednesday.
(With ANI Inputs)
