KEY POINTS:
New Zealand came tantalisingly close to turning around their dismal cricket tour of South Africa yesterday but poor fielding and a lack of confidence cost them the first one-dayer.
It their best performance of the tour, losing on the final ball.
Captain Daniel Vettori said he did not think his team's confidence nose-dived further after the loss by two wickets, although he agreed they should have won.
"We mucked it up," Vettori said.
New Zealand seemed set to end their losing streak when batsman Jamie How and opening bowler Kyle Mills produced career-best performances.
But dropped catches again proved costly.
Man-of-the-match AB de Villiers, who made 87, was put down by Ross Taylor at backward point off Chris Martin when he had scored 21.
Mark Boucher, who hit an unbeaten 35, was dropped by Mathew Sinclair at long-on off Martin on five and Andre Nel was missed by Scott Styris at backward point off Mark Gillespie before he had scored in the final over.
"We missed chances in the field again," Vettori said. "We should have finished the game off and should have won it comfortably.
"I've been saying all along that we're probably more comfortable in the one-day form of the game and the way we played today was an indication of that.
"But we're still not winning, so we have to move forward and try to find a way of winning the next one."
After dominating periods of the first one-dayer at Kingsmead Park, and with 27 needed from the last three overs, the Black Caps' nerves and lack of confidence came back to haunt them as Nel creamed two fours in the last over to take South Africa home off the final ball.
With three overs to go, the match was New Zealand's for the taking, and on came Gillespie - who until then had showed reasonable control.
Whether it was his choice or that of Vettori, the decision to bowl around the wicket to Boucher, then on 24, was flawed and spoke volumes of New Zealand's lack of belief. A clip through midwicket for two, a nudge for a single and a full toss on his legs was dispatched to fine leg for four. New Zealand's slim advantage was lost, and the match was slipping away.
Johan Botha came and went in a hurry, leaving South Africa to score 11 from the last over.
Nel took over and whooshed at thin air at the first ball of the final over before scything the second over backward point's head, putting Boucher back on strike. But he could only pick up an inside edge, leaving the fate of South Africa in Nel's hands.
The pressure didn't show. An attempted yorker from Gillespie was fizzed through extra cover with such force that no one, bar the dancing fans, moved a muscle. It was admittedly a poor ball, but the placement and power - not to mention audacity - were in absolute synchrony. Five needed from two balls, then, but Gillespie offered him a full toss which Nel, with even less elegance but equal amount of gusto, hammered through the same extra-cover region. A frantic run off the final delivery avoided the tie, and South Africa were home by two wickets.
There were encouraging signs though.
Mills bowled superbly, picking up career-best five for 25 from 10 accurate overs. With overhead conditions worsening, it was tailor-made for Mills on a pitch offering the taller bowlers plenty of bounce too. In the first 10 overs he was close to being unplayable.
"It's a nice feeling (career-best figures), but I'd trade it for a win any day. Any win over here is pretty special," Mills said.
"Normally we have world class fielding efforts, but in the last couple of games we've been missing the 50-50 chances that we usually take. I can't put my finger in it, we've been training damn hard. We put our heart and soul into it but it's just one of those things."
Mills apart, the rest were a mishmash of hopefuls as Martin had another off-day and Gillespie struggled with nerves. They were taken apart by two fine knocks: one by JP Duminy, South Africa's emerging No 5, and the other by de Villiers, who made 87.
New Zealand's top order finally fired, with How, Brendon McCullum and Styris making significant contributions. New Zealand's batsmen haven't managed a century on the tour - Vettori coming closest with 99 in an earlier game - but How's career-best 124-ball 90, though a tad slow by ODI standards, was the innings they needed to reach a respectable score.
McCullum and Styris made 40 apiece as they strung partnerships with How, something their batsmen couldn't do in the two tests. While How occupied the crease at one end, Styris and the No 5 Taylor motored along at nearly a run-a-ball at the other.
Despite losing How and Gareth Hopkins off successive deliveries in the 48th over, bowled by Nel, New Zealand posted a challenging 248, thanks to a breezy 32 off 23 deliveries from Mathew Sinclair.
- NZPA
