Esterhuizen's 57 and all-star bowling show take South Africa to series-levelling win

South Africa appeared to have stopped below par when they put up 164, but their bowlers put on an inspired show against an under-strength New Zealand

Firdose Moonda

Published: Mar 22, 2026, 10:13 AM (1 hr ago)

South Africa 164 for 5 (Esterhuizen 57, Jamieson 2-29) beat New Zealand 145 (Robinson 32, Coetzee 3-31, Subrayen 2-13, Maharaj 2-22, Baartman 2-30) by 19 runs

South Africa levelled the scoreline in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and ensured that Wednesday's final game will be a decider. They successfully defended what seemed a below-par score of 164 for 5 thanks largely to their spinners. Debutant offspinner Prenelan Subrayen and veteran left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj took four wickets between them and conceded 35 runs in their seven overs to take New Zealand from 76 for 3 in the ninth over to 112 for 7 in the 14th. New Zealand were bowled out inside 19 overs.

The hosts were significantly weakened from the team that took a 2-1 lead earlier in the week. Regular captain Mitchell Santner, opening batter Devon Conway and seamer Lockie Ferguson are being rested while stand-in captain Tom Latham was unavailable for this match after being hit on the thumb in game three. Latham will undergo scans to determine if he can play in the last fixture.

Despite their opposition's personnel changing, South Africa will be pleased with a better performance than the previous two matches. Five of the top six got starts and one, Connor Esterhuizen, went on to a significant score of 57. He shared a second-wicket stand of 81 with Tony de Zorzi, which is South Africa's highest of the series so far.

In defence, Gerald Coetzee set the tone with a fiery spell of fast bowling and finished with 3 for 31, while the spinners did the mid-innings damage. New Zealand's top-scorer was Tim Robinson, who made 32, but they had no partnerships worth more than the opening stand of 28.

Excellent Esterhuizen comes good

Batting heroes have been few and far between for South Africa in a series where they have been without their entire first-choice line-up, but in Esterhuizen, they have found one for the future. After top-scoring with 45* on debut in game one, he was moved from opening to No. 4 and then to No. 3, but made the most of it with his first international fifty on Sunday.

After Wiaan Mulder was dismissed for a second-ball duck, Esterhuizen was all but opening anyway but was on one off six balls when he got his first opportunity to go big.

Kyle Jamieson bowled one full on his pads and he clipped it through midwicket for his first boundary. Then Jamieson went short and Esterhuizen pulled for six, and he was on his way. He sent Ben Sears over mid-off and then long-off for four and six respectively, and plundered a hat-trick of boundaries off New Zealand's stand-in captain Jimmy Neesham. His fifty came off 33 balls in the tenth over and he got 34 runs in 12 balls between mid-off and midwicket.

South Africa were decently set-up on 81 for 1 when Esterhuizen pulled Sears over square leg, debutant Katene Clarke ran in from the rope and dived forward full length to take a spectacular low catch.

Sears keeps South Africa below 165

After removing their biggest threat, Esterhuizen, Ben Sears bowled two more important overs to keep South Africa to a modest total. He bowled the 16th over, with South Africa 121 for 4 and Jason Smith new to the crease. Sears went on-pace and a variety of lengths and Smith could neither nudge it through the off side nor pull the shorter one away. Only one run came off the bat in that over. Then Sears was brought on for the final over, with South Africa 162 for 5 and eyeing something over 170. He delivered a mixture of slower balls and yorkers which neither Rubin Hermann nor George Linde could get away and again, conceded just one run off the bat. His final two overs cost him two runs and he finished with figures of 1 for 22 in four overs.

Debutants make early statements

After a fabulous catch in the field, Clarke announced himself with the bat when he thwacked the first ball he faced - a wide one from Linde - through the covers for four. Linde corrected his line next ball but Clarke got inside the line to sweep it fine for four more. He showed willingness to take on anything hittable and when Mulder went short, Clarke went after it again but did not get the distance he wanted and was caught at deep square. His five-ball innings brought nine entertaining runs.

Later in the innings, South Africa's debutant Subrayen took two balls to have his say. He bowled Dane Cleaver with a quicker arm ball and then did exactly the same to Bevan Jacobs at the start of his second over. Subrayen had both batters late on their shots, kept his lengths full and had two wickets in his seven deliveries in T20Is. Subrayen didn't cover himself in similar glory in the field. He dropped Neesham on four as he ran a significant distance from backward point and got to the ball but could not hold on. Neesham was caught at third later in the over so no major damage was done.

Maharaj's double-strike puts South Africa in front

While Subrayen got the important breakthroughs, stand-in captain Maharaj all but finished things off with two strikes in his third over. Maharaj had Nick Kelly caught at deep midwicket trying to slog sweep a fast, flat ball. Kelly did not get as much power on the shot as he would have wanted and New Zealand were 111 for 6. Two balls later, Maharaj slowed things up to bowl Cole McConchie through the bat-pad gap. New Zealand were 112 for 7, 53 runs away from the target. Maharaj's final analysis read: 4-0-22-2.

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's correspondent for South Africa and women's cricket

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