10 June,2009 07:54 AM IST | | Agencies
New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum praised the South African bowling as the Kiwis went down by one run in their 'dead' World T20 clash at Lord's yesterday.
New Zealand lost five wickets as they managed only 127 runs chasing South Africa's total of 128 for the loss of seven wickets. McCullum said: "We were pretty pleased that we were chasing under 130 but we weren't able to accelerate. Normally we are good at clearing the boundaries but today South Africa bowled really well and kept us under pressure."
SA skipper Graeme Smith admitted the total wasn't enough. "We were 20 runs short but it wasn't an easy wicket and we knew that if we could bowl well, it would be a great challenge."
Brief scores: SA 128-7 in 20 overs (G Smith 33; I Butler 2-13) beat NZ 127-5 in 20 overs (B McCullum 57; RE van der Merwe 2-14)
