Proteas desperate to win Kiwi decider

IT’S a winner takes all showdown at Eden Park tomorrow with South Africa travelling back to the scene of previous heartbreak.

The Proteas agonisingly lost to New Zealand in the semi-final of the 2015 World Cup, with the Black Caps securing a Duckworth/Lewis victory off the penultimate ball thanks to a Grant Elliott maximum.

This time it’s not for the place in a major final but the Champions Trophy is just around the corner.

AB de Villiers said: “There’s a big final to play, there’s a lot at stake, it’s a big-pressure game. It would be great for us to come through a big-pressure game like that, especially at Eden Park.

“We won the T20 and it would be great to win the ODI and finish this leg of the tour on a high.We haven’t yet hit our straps as we wanted to, yet, in both departments, so hopefully it will happen in the last game.”

South Africa went 2-1 up in the series at Wellington with a comfortable win. De Villiers hit a swift 85 before a brilliant all-round bowling performance had the hosts all out for 112, when chasing 272.

New Zealand levelled it up to take it to a decider thanks to Martin Guptill’s brilliance. South Africa had set a challenging 280 target thanks to half centuries from Faf du Plessis and De Villiers but Guptill was in no mood to hang about.

The opener smashed 11 sixes and 15 boundaries as he made an unbeaten 180.That was the same amount of runs in the partnership between himself and Ross Taylor and it leaves it on a knife edge going into the decider.