Black Caps brush aside Proteas in Harare

South Africa suffered a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of the Black Caps in Harare on Tuesday, their second of the ongoing T20I Tri-Nations Series in Zimbabwe.

Rightfully, New Zealand made light work of South Africa's mediocre 135 target, with the aggressive opening batter Tim Seifert leading from the front, putting the Proteas bowling attack to the sword at the Harare Sports Club.

Seifert helped himself to what was a lacklustre Proteas bowling performance, smashing six fours and two sixes in his unbeaten knock of 66 as he led the Black Caps to a comfortable victory in the dress rehearsal for Saturday's final.

Proteas spinner Senuran Muthusamy was the only standout player with ball in hand, as he followed up his 1/19 on debut last week with a tidy 2/24 on Tuesday.

On the field, the Proteas were not clinical, just as they were with bat and ball, as Andile Simelane's dropped catch of Devon Conway in the first over of the defence set the tone for what would be a rather forgettable performance from South Africa.

With the bat, Reeza Hendricks was the highlight for the Proteas, scoring 44 off 37 deliveries as he kept losing batting partners throughout his innings.

Proteas captain Rassie van der Dussen (14), having been promoted to the top of the order, was the first partner that Hendricks lost, as the skipper was clean bowled in the third over of the match as he looked to make room to hit Adam Milne through the off side.

By the end of the first powerplay, the Proteas had only 34 runs on the board, and having failed to capitalise in the powerplay, the pressure mounted.

From there on in, the Black Caps bowlers established their dominance, taking wickets in regular intervals as they restricted South Africa to 134/8.

"The ball was doing a bit up front, and we knew that from the first three games. We just weren't good enough," said Van der Dussen after the match.

"The challenge was to find ways to negate that but we couldn't. They bowled really well and kept us under pressure. We lost wickets throughout and really struggled to gather any momentum."

Despite the loss, the Proteas have secured a spot in the final of the series, and once again, they will have another crack at the Black Caps in the same venue on Saturday.

T20I

South Africa: 134/8 (Reeza Hendricks 41; Adam Milne 2/21)

New Zealand: 135/3 (Tim Seifert 66 not out; Senuran Muthusamy 2/24)

New Zealand won by seven wickets with 25 balls to spare