Conway, Santner and Ferguson set to be rested after this match as series remains level at 1-1

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl against South Africa in the third T20I of the five-match series at Eden Park, Auckland, with the contest finely poised at 1-1. With conditions expected to favour high-scoring cricket, the hosts preferred to chase in a crucial game that could tilt the series in either side’s favour.

The Black Caps made one change to their playing XI, bringing back Bevon Jacobs after he recovered from a knee injury sustained in the opening match. He replaces allrounder Josh Clarkson, adding depth to the batting unit. However, this fixture will mark the final appearance in the series for key players Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner and Lockie Ferguson, all of whom are set to be rested for the remaining two matches as part of workload management.

South Africa also made a single change, handing Lutho Sipamla his first game of the tour in place of Ottneil Baartman. With no reserve batters available in the squad, the visitors reshuffled their batting order slightly. Tony de Zorzi has been promoted to open alongside Wiaan Mulder, while Connor Esterhuizen moves to No. 3. De Zorzi, who missed the T20 World Cup due to injury, will be looking to improve on his disappointing returns of 2 and 1 in the series so far.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand’s women’s team registered a comfortable win over South Africa, successfully chasing down a target of 150 to take a 2-1 lead in their series, adding to the home side’s positive momentum.

Playing XIs:

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Tom Latham (wk), Tim Robinson, Nick Kelly, Bevon Jacobs, Mitchell Santner (capt), Jimmy Neesham, Cole McConchie, Kyle Jamieson, Ben Sears, Lockie Ferguson

South Africa: Tony de Zorzi, Wiaan Mulder, Connor Esterhuizen (wk), Rubin Hermann, Jason Smith, Dian Forrester, George Linde, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj (capt), Nqobani Mokoena, Lutho Sipamla