Devine stars with the bat again as New Zealand seal T20I series

Sophie Devine blasted her second successive half-century as New Zealand secured a six-wicket victory at the Sky Stadium in Wellington on Sunday (March 22), taking an unassailable 3-1 lead against South Africa in the five-match series.

Chasing a target of 160, the hosts overhauled the total with nine balls to spare.

Earlier, Annerie Dercksen led South Africa's charge with an unbeaten 30-ball 55 after the visitors opted to bat. Sune Luus helped South Africa to a steady start before getting stumped off Amelia Kerr in the ninth over. With Laura Wolvaardt falling soon after, the visitors were left reeling at 58 for 3.

Dercksen then led a revival in the company of Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk and Kayla Reyneke, ensuring a surge in the scoring rate in the second half of the innings. Much of this surge came in the last four overs, with Dercksen launching Amelia Kerr over deep mid-wicket and slamming a couple more boundaries in a 17-run 17th over. South Africa posted a competitive 159 for 6.

In response, New Zealand were in little trouble throughout the chase despite losing Isabella Gaze early. Amelia Kerr provided the backbone with 46-run stands each with Georgia Plimmer and Devine for the second and third wickets.

Devine built on that momentum, pressing the accelerator by taking down Masabata Klaas for 18 runs in the 15th over and cracking a boundary off Nonkululeko Mlaba to bring up her half-century. Victory was well in sight from thereon, and even as Devine departed in the 18th over, the hosts crossed the target with nine balls to spare.

Brief Scores:
South Africa 159/6 in 20 overs (Annerie Dercksen 55*, Sune Luus 30; Jess Kerr 3-16) lost to New Zealand 160/4 in 18.3 overs (Sophie Devine 64*, Amelia Kerr 31; Chloe Tryon 2-13) by six wickets.