Seifert’s unbeaten 66 leads New Zealand to comfortable T20 win over South Africa

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Tim Seifert’s aggressive half-century on a tricky pitch led New Zealand to a comfortable seven-wicket win over South Africa in a tri-series T20 match on Tuesday.

Opening batter Seifert, dropped in the first over before he had scored, hit an unbeaten 66 off 48 balls to guide the Black Caps to their target of 135 with more than four overs to spare.

Earlier, South Africa tinkered with its batting order but the experiment of using captain Rassie van der Dussen as an opener failed to pay off as the team could only make 134-8. Reeza Hendricks top-scored with 41 off 37 balls and George Linde stroked an unbeaten 23.

The two teams will meet again in Saturday’s final after host Zimbabwe, which takes on New Zealand in a dead rubber on Thursday, lost three games in a row.

New Zealand will go into the final with a 2-0 record against South Africa after beating the Proteas by 21 runs earlier in the tri-series.

Lucky Seifert leads the chase

Seifert made full use of his let-off after Andile Simelane failed to hold onto a skier at mid-off.

Seifert and Devon Conway (14) combined for the tournament’s highest tally in the batting power play as New Zealand cruised to 55-1 in the first six overs.

The South African bowlers were wayward with their line and length and conceded a total of 17 wides.

Simelane made late amends for his earlier lapse when he found the outside edge of the bat to remove Conway, before spinner Senuran Muthusamy (2-24) picked up the wickets of Rachin Ravindra (3) and Mark Chapman (10).

But Seifert continued to dominate and raised his half-century off 38 balls when he hit Muthusamy over his head for a straight six.

South Africa’s below-par effort in the field was summed up when fast bowler Kwena Maphaka’s low full toss was perfectly timed by Seifert to long-leg for the winning boundary.

South Africa top-order flop

South Africa’s batters struggled to find momentum on a two-paced wicket after New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner had won the toss and elected to field.

Van der Dussen (14) struck three boundaries but attempted an over-ambitious shot against Adam Milne, only to see his stumps knocked back.

Chapman delivered a spectacular run-out of Rubin Hermann when he sprinted from mid-wicket before diving in at the non-striker’s end to break the stumps.

South Africa then lost its way completely when in-form batter Dewald Brevis feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Seifert as he tried to upper-cut Will O’Rourke in the 10th over.

Santner stifled the middle-order by removing Lhuan-dre Pretorius (1), who was demoted to middle-order from his usual opening slot, and Simelane in an economical spell of 2-26.

Jacob Duffy (2-33) ended Hendricks’ 37-ball toil when he had him caught at cover, and he followed it up with the wicket of Gerald Coetzee, who attempted an upper-cut but gave Seifert his second catch.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket