Green 141*, Mair five-for headline New Zealand’s series-clinching win
South Africa go down by 66 runs to New Zealand in ODI series decider
ESPNcricinfo staff
Published: Apr 4, 2026, 6:14 AM
Maddy Green led New Zealand’s batting effort with a century • Getty Images
New Zealand 306 for 7 (Green 141*, Halliday 98, Hlubi 2-47) beat South Africa 240 (Wolvaardt 69, Dercksen 47, Mair 5-50, A Kerr 2-37) by 66 runs
Maddy Green scored 141 not out from No. 4 and Brooke Halliday 98 from No. 5, with New Zealand‘s next best being Izzy Sharp’s 16.
But those two innings, after the pair came together at 3 for 3 in the fourth over and lasted till the 40th over, set New Zealand up for their win in the ODI series decider against South Africa. Green and Halliday added 211 for the fourth wicket to propel New Zealand to 306, but it still took Rosemary Mair‘s five-wicket haul to put the stamp on the result.
For New Zealand, it was a come-from-behind series win, after they had lost the opening game by two wickets off the last ball before pulling level courtesy Amelia Kerr’s 139-ball 179 not out in the second.
Green was New Zealand’s top-scorer in that first game too, with 85 in 83 balls, and it was a matter of inches that it didn’t end up on the winning side then. But Green was at it again on Saturday, taking control of New Zealand’s innings in collaboration with Halliday after Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer and Amelia had fallen for next to nothing to Tumi Sekhukhune and Ayanda Hlubi.
In the fourth-wicket partnership, Green contributed 95 from as many balls, while Halliday scored 98 in 124 deliveries before she became the fourth batter to fall.
After they were separated, 92 more runs came in the remaining 10.2 overs. Green got to her third ODI ton, and added 46 more to her tally. Sharp scored a run-a-ball 16, and Nensi Patel 12 not out in six balls, leaving South Africa 307 to score to win the series.
South Africa’s start was as good as they could have wanted, with Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits putting together 68 for the first wicket, and then Wolvaardt and Annerie Dercksen taking them close to 150 before both of them fell, leaving South Africa 148 for 3 after 27.1 overs. They were on track as far as the asking rate was concerned, but they needed a big partnership to get the chase on course.
That never came, though. Chloe Tryon tried, with a 26-ball 29, but there wasn’t much else of note. And a lot of that was down to Mair. She took the first wicket to fall, of Brits. Dercksen was the second wicket, and then she kept striking. Anneke Bosch, Tryon and Hlubi completed Mair’s five-for, as she ended with 5 for 50, thus stopping South Africa 66 short.
