Captain Kane ꩲWilliamson hit a six to reach his century and level the scores and then stroked the winning runs with a boundary off the next delivery as New Zealand edged Sout🙈h Africa by four wickets with three balls to spare in a 49-over rain-affected game.
Williamson score☂d an unbeaten 106 off 138 balls in a composed innings to guide the Black Caps to 245-6 chasing 242 for victory.
The unbeaten New Zealanders have now moved to the top of the t꧑able with nine points from four wins and a point from the washout game against India. On the other side, South Africa has just one win from six games and its chances of reaching the semi-finals are almost over.
Williamson shared a 91-run partnership with Colin de Grand෴homme, who ♒scored 60 from 47 balls, to get the Kiwis within reach.
De Grandhomme’s dismissal left New Zealand needing 14 runs from 11 balls and four wickets in hand. Williams angled a boundary off the last ball of the penultimate over to set up a scenario where New Zealand needed eight runs off the last over to win.
Mitchell ♔Santner took a single in the first ball of the last over from Andile Phehlukwayo, and Williamson hit the six and the boundary from consecutive balls to finish it off.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Kane 🎶Williamson out here adding a new star to the New Zealand 📖flag *
— ICC (@ICC)
Another World Cup, an🦩other heartb♋reak for South Africa. Their story of the World Cup has been a long running tear-jerker.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha)
Kane Williamson absolutely Dhoni-ed that innings
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek)
makes such a big differ🐽ꦅence to the . Paces his innings so well.. Great control and great skill. Reads the games beautifully
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani)
Morgan grabbed the headlines for his power Hitting exploits yesterday and rightly so but this Williamson innings today is something else … Under immense pressure he has played an old school gem … What a player … What a Ton …
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan)
What a marvellous innings from Kane Williamson. F𒐪antastic game of cricket and his calmness stood out in taking New Zealand home. Terrific stuff
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281)
//twitter.com/hershybru/status/114142009098389ꦏ0946
Gem of a player, Kane Williamson. Com𒁃posure 𝓰and class
— Mike atherton (@Athersmike)
Kane Williamson is a champion.
Along with Dhoni the coolest head in world 💃cricket. What a fantastic chase and a great victory 🌼for New Zealand— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif)
No fireworks, no showmnaship. Just a clinical completion of the task at hand. This man is the ‘Mechanic.’ Like Jason Statham, the perfect executioner…
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra)
Kane Williamson you beauty!!!
— Grant Elliott (@grantelliottnz)
//twitter.com/dizzy259/status/1141419186054467586
Kane Can. What a time to bring up his first World Cup Ton. Top knock by a top player. New Zealand to stay in the top four….in all likelihood, right till the end.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
Man of the Match : Kane Williamson
— betvisa68.com (@CricketTimesHQ)
Kane Williamson Top dog! Superb century to anchor his team to win in nerve wracking conte🍸st
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah)
It's Williamson's first World Cup hundred. And what a hundred. New Zealand are almost through the semis. And South Africa almost out.
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal)
All class..
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial)
Kane Willꦆiamson is mayonnaise. But sriracha mayonn🎀aise.
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E)
This is New Zealand's 10th consecutive win while chasing in ICC ODI World Cups.
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman)
End of the road for South Africa. Usual script in world cupsꩲ for them. Brilliant from Williamson and NZ shows why they can never be ignored. England NZ India and Aus though Bangladesh may not agree.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar)
20 years later
Same venue, Last over
SA get eliminated from the tournament— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar)
Kane Williamson – you beauty! Captain Cool
What a knock under pressure
Class act – Kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Williamson kept his cool
South Africa have not beaten New Zealand in ⛦a World Cup game since 1999!♕— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang)
Never in doubt…. Ship steadied.
— Grant Robertson (@grantrobertson1)
Auckl🍒and 2015: NZ beat South Africa by 4 wickets in the last over.
Birmingham 2019: NZ beat Sout♋h Africa by 4 wickets in the last over.
This is also NZ's 5th consecutive win against South Africa in World Cup matches.
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad)
