New Zealand 210 for 4 (Kerr 100*, Halliday 37*, Malta 2-41) beat South Africa 209 (Kapp 72, Devine 3-33, Tahuhu 3-43, Kerr 2-43) by six wickets (DLS method)
After opting to bowl first at the toss, New Zealand had the hosts in a spot of bother when their quick bowlers Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu and Devine combined to reduce South Africa to 43 for 3 in the 12th over. When it looked like in-form captain Laura Wolvaardt and Kapp were going to keep them steady, Devine had Wolvaardt bowled upon attempting to play her trademark drive, to send her back for 24 off 54. From there, Kapp not only salvaged the innings but did so at a brisk pace even though wickets fell around her.
She was mainly assisted by Chloe Tryon, playing her 100th ODI, in a fifth-wicket stand of 58 and then by Sinola Jafta for a partnership of 41 for the seventh wicket. Once Jafta was caught behind off Tahuhu, Kapp also edged behind, for 72 off 73 off Kerr, at the score of 188 and South Africa were soon bowled out for 209 in 44.3 overs.
After rain had made it a 48-over game at the start, the interruption in the middle reduced it to 45 overs a side and since the hosts were all out, New Zealand had to chase 210 and not a revised target.
South Africa started their defence in strong fashion when Suzie Bates, playing her 300th international game, was caught at midwicket by a diving Tazmin Brits off Masabata Klaas for nine early on. The ease with which Kerr and Devine then put on 64 for the second wicket to take them past 100 made it look like the visitors would stroll to the target. But Nonkululeko Mlaba’s double-strike and Maddy Green’s duck added a twist. Devine and Green were both victims of misfortune. When the New Zealand captain tried to push a seemingly inncocuous ball to the covers, it kept low and rolled onto her stumps when, and next over Green danced down the track and went for a drive, she missed it as did Jafta but the ball bounced off the wicketkeeper’s gloves and hit the stumps with Green miles out. Georgia Plimmer’s cut, away from the body, offered a simple catch to point off Mlaba, which had New Zealand tightly placed 127 for 4, having lost 3 for 21 in the previous 49 balls.
The wickets added to a boundary drought that lasted over 12 overs, but Brooke Halliday broke the shackles in the 31st over. The pair saw off a tense phase with Kerr surviving a close lbw shout off Tryon and Halliday’s chip down the ground falling just short of mid-off in the same over. Halliday soon also survived a run-out chance with a full-length dive and got another life when Klaas put down a sitter at midwicket in the 41st over. By now, Kerr had reached a solid 87 with the help of 11 fours, most of them coming behind square and through the covers, and she, with Halliday, had ensured the asking rate never crossed six an over for most of their stand. And when it did, Halliday smacked Klaas for three fours in an over before Kerr got to 99 with a four next over and tapped the ball towards point to pinch the single that got her a match-winning century.