Auckland, 20 March (H.S.): l Powered by a stellar bowling display and wicketkeeper-batter Tom Latham's unbeaten 63, New Zealand defeated South Africa by eight wickets in the third T20I on Friday, seizing a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.South Africa batted first and slumped to 136/9 in 20 overs at Eden Park. New Zealand chased 137 in 16.2 overs for 2 wickets, with Latham (63* off 55 balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes) anchoring after Devon Conway (39 off 26, 4 fours, 2 sixes) and Tim Robinson (17) departed.

Captain Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, and Ben Sears claimed 2/2 each for New Zealand; Lockie Ferguson, James Neesham, and Cole McConchie took one apiece. Nokobani Mokoena topped South Africa's scoring with 26*, followed by George Linde (23), Dian Forrester (17), Gerald Coetzee (16), and Connor Esterhuizen and Tony de Zorzi (15 each).

Fourth T20I is set for March 22 in Wellington.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar