Latham slams his first T20I fifty in nearly three years
What's the story
New Zealand defeated South Africa by eight wickets in the third T20I in Auckland. The convincing win gave the Kiwis a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Chasing a target of 137, New Zealand were powered by their openers Devon Conway and Tom Latham. The latter went on to hit an unbeaten 63 - his first T20I fifty in nearly three years. Let's decode his performance.
Knock
Latham leads from the front
New Zealand chased down the target with 22 balls to spare, thanks to Conway and Latham's opening stand of 96 runs in less than 11 overs. While Conway perished for 39, Latham played as per the required situation and stayed unbeaten till the end. The latter also dominated a 40-run partnership with Tim Robinson (17) for the second wicket.
Stats
A T20I fifty after ages
Latham, who had not played a T20I in almost three years before this series, made an unbeaten 55-ball 63. He smoked seven fours and two sixes. His last T20I fifty came against Pakistan in April 2023. This was his fourth T20I fifty, which took him to 597 runs from 29 T20Is at 27.13 (SR: 109.54). He now owns 96 T20I runs against SA at 24. Notably, Latham will take over the captaincy for the remaining two matches of this series.
Conway
Another fine hand from Conway
Conway, who made a 49-ball 60 in the second game, made 39 off 26 balls in his latest outing (4 fours, 2 sixes). According to ESPNcricinfo, the Kiwi star has completed 1,839 runs from 69 T20Is at an average of 35.36 (50s: 13). 1,113 of his runs have come in home games at 44.52. Against SA, he has completed 175 runs at 29.16.