McCullum, Guptill, pleased with win against SA – Cricket News Update
New Zealand skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wellington-c864 today.
McCullum gave credit to the bowlers for the win, and commented on the conducive conditions, which supported the composition of their bowling attack. They started off with spinner Nathan McCullum, a move that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Allan-Robert-Border-c43726 de Villiers’ side had been expecting, but were
obviously unable to counter.
“(…) Pitch had something for both fast and slow bowlers, so it was decent. We drive ourselves pretty hard with fielding, can't fault our effort throughout the summer there so far, helps the bowlers to know they've got a good unit backing them up," said
McCullum.
The bowling attack was led by medium pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-McDonald-c1042 Hira picking up a wicket apiece. New Zealand’s tight fielding prevented the Proteas batsmen from hitting too freely, and their total was
contained at 147 at the end of 20 overs.
The skipper also went on to praise 25-year-old opener, who was clearly the star player of the match, claiming he was “in great form at the moment.”
Guptill’s aggressive batting performance drove the team to victory, with the batsman scoring his sixth consecutive international half-century, and winning the Player of the Match award for scoring 78 runs off 55 balls.
“Batting really well at the moment, opening with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Robin-James-Boyd-Moss-c86323 is quite good at the moment,” he commented on his performance. “I only had one net yesterday and one this morning, but I feel in really good touch in the games.”
He was the most exciting batsman of the match, he played some massive shots, including a belligerent 127-metres-long six off a delivery from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LL-Tsotsobe-c1842, which landed on the roof of the stands.
In addition to his batting, Guptill was brilliant in the field too, running out http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jonathan-Neil-Rhodes-c69150, and diving low to catch de Villiers out at short cover.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754’s 148 for 4 won them the match, giving them a 1-0 lead in the series. The next T20I is scheduled for February 19, at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
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