HOBART. Australia. Dec 11: South Africa held off a strong fightback by underdogs New Zealand to
win by one run in a thrilling end to their one-day cricket international at the Bellerive Oval here today, reports AFP.
South Africa s tense victory moved them to a two-game lead at the top of the triangular series standings aheacf of New Zealand and Australia who have a win apiece from three games.
Once again South Africa won despite a below-par batting performance, their 50 overs netting a lowly 174 for nine.
New Zealand rallied to the brink of victory after looking out for the count at 111 for seven, with Chris Harris (37 not out) and young spinner Daniel Vettori (25 not out) putting on 62 runs for the eighth wicket.
But the Kiwis, needing 11 runs off the last over by Lance Klusener, were unable to repeat their surprise 47-run victory over Hansie Cronje's men in Adelaide last Saturday.
Harris needed a six off Klusener's final ball, but hit along the ground to the fence for four to leave the Kiwis stranded at 173 for seven.
Veteran wicketkeeper David Richardson also contributed to the narrow win with two diving saves behind the stumps to prevent Kiwi runs in the last two overs.
Klusener won his second consecutive man-of-the-match award with a fine match double of 37 and 3-46 off 10 overs. He claimed the award in South Africa's 45 run win over Australia in Melbourne on Tuesday with 5-24.
Earlier, tight New Zealand bowling and alert fielding restricted South Africa, who won the toss, to another mediocre batting total.
Cronje's team scored 200 against Australia last Thursday in Sydney. 177 against New Zealand in Adelaide last Saturday and 170 for eight against
Australia in Melbourne on Tuesday — yet they lead the series with two wins.
The South Africans began brightly Thursday and were scoring at four runs an over, but a middle-order batting collapse halted their momentum when three wickets fell for two runs.
Two of the dismissals came from direct hit run outs.
Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock put on the only 50-run partnership late in the innings but were never able to dominate the bowling.
Kallis Topscored with 45 while Klusener made 37 and Pollock was caught in the deep off the last ball of the Innings for 31.
Chris Cairns. Harris and Shayne O'Connor each took two wickets for New Zealand.
A measure of New Zealand's tight bowling was that the South Africans managed only four boundaries and one six in their innings.
SCOREBOARD
Scoreboard in the triangular limited-overs international between New Zealand and South Africa at Bellerive Oval on Thursday:
SOUTH AFRICA
Kirsten b O'Connor 6
Gibbs c Vettori b O'Connor 12
Klusener run out 37
Symcox c and b Harris 15
Cronje run out 0
Kallis c and b Harris 45
Rhodes b Vettori 14
Pollock c I .arsen b Cairns 31
B McMillan b Cairns 1
Richardson not out 9
Extras (w-4) 4
Total: (for nine wickets tn 50 overs) 174
Fall of wickets: 1-14; 2-41; 3-71; 4-72; 5-73; 6-99; 7-153; 8-156; 9-174.
Did not bat: A Donald.
Bowling: O M R W
O'Connor 7 0 42 2
Cairns 10 2 26 2
Harris 10 0 36 2
Larsen 8 1 23 0
Vettori 6 1 17 1
Astle 9 0 30 0
NEW ZEALAND
Home lbw b Klusener 3
Astle c McMillan b Klusener 1
Calms b Klusener 29
Fleming c Pollock b Symcox 32
C McMillan c Kirsten b Symcox 18 Twose c Kirsten b Pollock 11
Parorc run out 6
Harris not out 37
Vettori not out 25
Extras db-8. w-3) II
Total (7 wkt» in 50 overs) 173
Fall of wkts: 1-5; 2-6; 3-45;
4-83; 5-89; 6-97; 7-111
Bowling: O M R W
Pollock 10 2 24 1
Klusener 10 0 46 3
Donald 10 2 32 0
McMillan 10 1 28 0
Symcox 10 1 35 2
Result: South Africa won by one run.
Man-of-the-match: L
Umpires: . McQuillan (Aus)/ S Randell (Aus)
STANDINGS
Team: P W L PU
South Africa 4 3 16
New Zealand 3 12 2
Australia 3.1 2 2