South Africa produced a clinical performance to beat New Zealand by 13 runs in a Group E Super Eight stage match of the Twenty20 World Cup in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Thursday.
AB de Villiers scored an unbeaten on 47 and Albie Morkel hit a breezy 40 as the Proteas put up 170 for 4 batting first.
De Villiers got his runs off 39 balls while Morkel bulldozed the South African attack to all parts of the ground during his 18-ball knock, in a 72-run stand off just 38 deliveries for the fourth wicket.
Chasing 171 for victory, New Zealand's batsmen found themselves in trouble against the disciplined South African attack, which was backed by some extraordinary fielding, and eventually put up just 157 for seven.
In the day's earlier match, Kevin Pietersen scored a fine unbeaten 73 to guide England to a comfortable six-wicket victory over defending champions Pakistan.
England had little trouble in surpassing Pakistan's total of 147, with three balls to spare.
New Zealand's run chase started on a disastrous note as Brendon McCullum failed yet again. He was spectacularly caught by Gibbs at cover to the innings' fifth ball from Charl Langeveldt.
Jesse Ryder (33) and Martin Guptil (18), however, got the Kiwi innings on track with a 44-run second-wicket stand but Johan Botha came up with wickets in consecutive overs to put the brakes on New Zealand's scoring.
Botha first accounted for Guptil and then fooled Ryder with a flighted off-spinner to give the Proteas the upper hand.
Ross Taylor (19), Gareth Hopkins (18), Scott Styris (13) and Jacob Oram (0) did very little to help their side's cause as New Zealand lost wickets in a heap towards the end.
Nathan MCCullum (26 not out off 17) and skipper Daniel Vettori (10 not out) did try their level best in the dying stages but it was not enough to take their side home.
Langeveldt (2-39), Morne Morkel (2-27) and Botha (2-23) shared six Kiwi between them.
Earlier, o
pting to bat, captain Graeme Smith (14) and Jacques Kallis (31 off 26) gave the South African innings a brisk start with a 40-run opening stand that came off just 29 balls, before Tim Southee struck in his opening over.Smith was caught by Martin Guptil off Southee at the square-leg boundary and then 15 runs later Kallis fell to a blinder of a catch from Southee at third-man off Jacob Oram.
Herschelle Gibbs made a quickfire 24-ball 30 before he was pounced by Brendon McCullum of brother Nathan McCullum's bowling.
Nathan McCullum (1-35), Southee (1-39) and Jacob Oram (1-22) bagged a wicket each for New Zealand.
