Martin Guptill maiden Twenty20 century leads Blackcaps level the series

The scorching innings from Martin Guptill leads the New Zealand to square the series with an eight wickets win over South Africa at Buffalo Park, East London. The opener cracked 101 from 69 balls with the hard-hitting right-hander pounding a four off the last ball to seal the victory.

South Africa made a versatile 165 for five after being put into bat and the New Zealand needed every one of their 19 overs to reach the duckworth-lewis adjusted target of 169. Martin Guptill, who missed the last match with a stomach bug, put on 76 for the first wicket with the partnership broken when Rob Nicol was caught on the boundary for 25.

Brendon McCullum support with 17 runs but his innings ended with 12 balls remaining bringing Colin Munro to the crease. There were some of dropped chances by the South African fielders but none more important than when Robin Peterson shelled Guptill with 19 runs off 10 balls.

Martin Guptill suitably found himself on strike with four required and hit the winning runs to spark celebrations from the New Zealand dug-out. Earlier, Ronnie Hira removed Richard Levi cheaply but Henry Davids and Faf du Plessis combined for a 68 runs stand and it wasn’t until the 12th over that the partnership was broken.  Davids scored 55 from 38 balls with Jimmy Neesham talking a stunning catch to send the South African opener back to the dressing room. The third and final match will be played on Wednesday.

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