New Zealand v South Africa, 5th ODI, Auckland - Preview
After many a twist and turn in the five-match One-Day International series between New Zealand and South Africa, it all boils down to this: a 'no quarter given, no quarter asked' decider at Eden Park on Saturday (March 4).
If the script sounds familiar -- from the time of year to rain threatening to make a cameo -- it's because the last time the two teams met at the venue was the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal. That match certainly lived up to the billing, and the hope is this one will too.
South Africa began the series as the No. 1 ODI team, but New Zealand knocked it off that perch with Australia ascending to the top spot after the fourth game in Hamilton. The visiting side recovered from a middle-order collapse to finish with what seemed a competitive total at 279 for 8, but were quickly disabused of that notion by Martin Guptill's breathless, unbeaten 180 as New Zealand squared the series 2-2.
AB de Villiers, the captain, who spoke of "unfinished business" in New Zealand harking back to the painful World Cup loss, believed revisiting the venue for another crunch game would be beneficial ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy.
"There is a big final to play with lots at stake," said de Villiers. "It’s obviously a big pressure game, and it will be great for us to come through a game like that, especially at Eden Park. It’s a great stadium to play cricket at, we won the T20 game there and it will be great to do the same in the ODI now and finish on a high on this tour.
"I think we’ve played some fantastic cricket throughout the series. We haven’t hit our straps as we wanted to yet in both departments of the game, with bat and ball. Hopefully it will happen in this last game, and I’ve full faith in the boys to put it through."
De Villiers has been South Africa's Atlas, leading the run charts with 239 runs at 119.50 and propping up the side when others have squandered starts. To put it into perspective, Guptill in one game has more runs than any South African barring de Villiers and Quinton de Kock (194). Faf du Plessis admitted the batsmen, himself included, needed to pull up their socks.
''We've been firing at 65 percent on tour, we haven't been consistent enough in the style of cricket we want to play," said du Plessis. "With the bat, not enough hundreds in the top six, that is something that we pride ourselves on, especially putting in big totals on the board.
"With the ball, we need to be a lot more relentless in the areas that we bowl, we have been soft in giving boundaries away."
South Africa has been rotating its quick bowlers, and Andile Phehlukwayo, who missed the last game with a tight groin, is likely to be back. On the spin front, Imran Tahir will be keen on replicating the form he showed at the start of the tour -- 5 for 24 in the one-off Twenty20 International in Eden Park. He had tapered off since then, but de Villiers felt that the quicker surface at Eden Park would suit his legspinner better.
More than South Africa, though, it's New Zealand whose pace bowlers have been a let-down. The two senior quicks, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, have been expensive and Kane Williamson's faith in them to deliver at the death has mostly gone unrewarded, but it could be Lockie Ferguson who makes way for Matt Henry.
There is an argument that Ish Sodhi could partner Jeetan Patel on this surface, but New Zealand will probably not choose the final game to throw caution to the wind.
The batting looks more sound with the return of Guptill, with Williamson, Ross Taylor and Jimmy Neesham to follow. All four have been in good nick, but if Guptill can manage even 50% of what he did in Hamilton, the home crowd is in for a treat.
As it stands, Eden Park has been a happy hunting ground of late for New Zealand, with all of the last five ODIs played in the past two years resulting in wins. But faint-of-heart fans should be warned, the ground is also developing a reputation for producing edge-of-the-seat thrillers -- the one-wicket win against Australia in the group stage of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup and the six-run win against Australia last month come to mind.
New Zealand, who has collected eight home series wins in a row so far, will hope it is on the right side of the result at the ground once more.
Teams (from)
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Trent Boult, Neil Broom, Dean Brownlie, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, James Neesham, Jeetan Patel, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Matt Henry.
South Africa: AB de Villiers (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, David Miller, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.