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Steyn goes nuts on New Zealand

LATE HEROICS: Proteas' Dale Steyn
LATE HEROICS: Proteas' Dale Steyn

DALE Steyn's face curled into a strange smile after Nathan McCullum clouted him to the cover boundary in the last over of SA's World T20 match against New Zealand in Chittagong yesterday.

Two balls later, SA had won by two runs to keep their campaign alive. How, no one could say. But we know why Steyn was smiling: when you're as nuts as he is, fantasy is reality.

"Dale Steyn proved why he has been the world's best bowler for such a long period of time," Faf du Plessis said. "As a captain, to have a guy like that in your team makes anything possible."

When Steyn's smile first twisted, New Zealand needed three runs off those last two balls. Defeat for SA would have all but ended their campaign.

Out of nowhere, Steyn bowled SA to victory with his haul of 4-17. SA were able to post 170-6 yesterday because Hashim Amla hung tough and JP Duminy let fly. Amla's 41 off 40 balls kept the innings intact after Quinton de Kock, Du Plessis and AB de Villiers were dismissed with 42 runs scored. Duminy hammered an unbeaten 86.

"As a blueprint for how to play an innings in a game like this, you won't find much better," Du Plessis said.

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