Canterbury bounce back from T20 final defeat to
Tahir, who has taken 121 ODI wickets in 69 matches at 23.2 apiece, is also No 1 in the T20 form. The 37-year-old has overtaken New Zealand swing bowler Trent Boult at the top of the ODI list — and throw in that South Africa have four of the top six-ranked one-day batsmen and you get an idea of the size of the challenge New Zealand face.
ODI captain AB de Villiers is No 2, behind Australian opener David Warner, with India’s Virat Kohli No 3, The Canterbury Magicians didn’t let the pain of finals defeat linger long.
Beaten in the women’s Twenty20 final on Saturday, the Magicians bounced back by claiming the oneday trophy yesterday. It was a welldeserved remedy after a five run Williamson (c), Corey Anderson, Boult, Tom Bruce, Ferguson, de Grandhomme, Guptill, Colin Munro, Neesham, Ronchi, Santner, Sodhi, Southee, Ben Wheeler.
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T20 International, Eden Park, Auckland ODI, Seddon Park, Hamilton ODI, Hagley Oval, Christchurch ODI, Westpac Stadium, Wellington ODI, McLean Park, Napier ODI, Eden Park, Auckland Test match, University of Otago Oval, Dunedin Test match, Basin Reserve, Wellington Test match, Seddon Park, Hamilton
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Bangladesh in Christchurch on Boxing Day but since then, it’s been 22, 4, 7, 0. Still, the selectors want him in at the top. equal, with opener Martin Guptill at No 9.
And if you doubt the strength of South Africa’s desire, de Villiers made it plain before leaving South Africa. Their 5-0 sweep of Sri Lanka gives them 11 wins on the bounce at home — Tahir taking 10 wickets at 17 each in that rubber — and lifted them to No 1 ODI nation. New Zealand are third, six points adrift.
“We have got a bit of unfinished business there,” de Villiers said, defeat to the Otago Sparks in the Twenty20 final, as the Magicians picked up their first one-day title since 2012-13 with a six-wicket win over the Auckland Hearts yesterday.
Kate Ebrahim (nee Broadmore) proved the difference for Canterbury, with the all-rounder scoring 100 not out and taking two wickets. cricket over a long period of time.
“We definitely deserve to be there and want to keep up what we’ve been doing, so we’re very motivated to do well,” he said.
South Africa arrived last night and will play a warm-up game against a New Zealand XI tomorrow on Eden Park’s outer oval before the sole T20 clash at Eden Park on Friday night. Five ODIs and three tests follow that, the tour ending with the final test in Hamilton starting on March 25. Former international Ebrahim took 2-32 in her 10 overs of medium pace to peg back the Hearts after they won the toss and batted first.
Auckland were initially steered out of trouble thanks to a superb innings from White Fern Katie Perkins. She hit impressively down the ground and feasted on any spin bowling that was short or wide, striking nine fours and a six to provide the bulk of the Hearts’ runs.
Amy Satterthwaite’s spin helped keep the run rate in check, finishing with 1-36 from her 10 overs, but Perkins was aggressive, moving through to 89 not out with an over remaining. Three balls later, she had a fantastic unbeaten century off 111 balls as Auckland ended up with a competitive 233-6.
Canterbury’s chase started poorly, with influential skipper Satterthwaite departing for just three as a result of a stunning one-handed catch from Regina Lili’i.
Satterthwaite was caught fending