South Africa, New Zealand, 3rd ODI
Gibbs blazes century as South Africa cruise

Cape Town—New Zealand’s hopes of winning their first series in South Africa receded quickly as their bowling attack wilted against an onslaught from Herschelle Gibbs. A target of 239 can be tricky if approached tentatively but Gibbs was anything but. His performance was so commanding that one could have forgotten that Graeme Smith was also at the crease.
Daniel Vettori was helpless under the circumstances. He changed his bowlers around and used as many as six within the first 15 overs but Gibbs, who was dismissed for a duck in Port Elizabeth, attacked everyone in his path. He began confidently by flicking Mark Gillespie through square leg and midwicket and most of his early runs came on the leg side; an indication that the New Zealand fast bowlers were bowling too straight. Soon he was pummeling the cover and point boundaries as well once the bowlers adjusted their line towards off stump. However, the shot that signaled his intent was when he charged Kyle Mills and lofted him over the straight boundary.
Gillespie’s went for 18 off his first two overs and was replaced by Jacob Oram. It didn’t matter to Gibbs, who pulled him off the front foot over the midwicket boundary. Brendon McCullum came up to the stumps to prevent Gibbs from stepping out of his crease but that didn’t matter either; Gibbs got down on one knee and swept Oram out of the ground. Oram was taken out of the attack after going for 20 runs off two overs.
South Africa had scored 61 off ten overs, prompting Vettori to delay the second Powerplay and bring himself on but that didn’t faze Gibbs either. He immediately drove Vettori off the back foot through cover to reach his fifty off 40 balls.
After Scott Styris too failed to provide the wicket, Vettori threw the ball to Jeetan Patel in the 15th over and spread the field. Gibbs responded by launching Patel’s second ball inside out over extra-cover for four and slog-sweeping his fifth for a massive six. He reached his hundred, off 77 balls, by lofting Gillespie off the back foot to the cover boundary.
Watching the spectacle unfold at the other end was Smith, who had remained uncharacteristically quiet. He struggled early on against the delivery that seamed away from his off stump and was beaten regularly by Mills. With the run-rate soaring, Smith was under no pressure to score quickly and he took his time to get settled, content with giving Gibbs the strike. The contrast between the two innings was evident when Smith cover-drove Gillespie for his first boundary in the 21st over. By that time the Newlands crowd had cheered nine fours and half-a-dozen sixes from Gibbs’ bat.
New Zealand’s body language betrayed their helplessness as South Africa steamed towards their target. Smith was dropped twice, first by McCullum and then by Mathew Sinclair, but the perpetrator of their misery, Gibbs, had not given then a single chance.
South Africa haven’t lost a one-day series at home since 2001-02, and a disciplined display by their fast bowlers gave them a strong chance of maintaining that record with a stifling performance in the deciding match at Newlands.
New Zealand found scoring opportunities few and far between as fast bowler after fast bowler sustained the pressure to restrict the target to 239 off 50 overs.—Agencies