Feb 14 (Reuters) - South Africa are on the brink of reaching the Twenty20 World Cup's Super 8 stage after captain Aiden Markram's storming half-century led them to a dominant seven-wicket victory over New Zealand on Saturday, securing their third straight Group D win.
New Zealand suffered their first loss in the campaign after they posted 175-7, as South Africa's Marco Jansen took four wickets.
In response, opener Markram hit four sixes and eight boundaries in his unbeaten knock of 86 off 44 balls, the highest by a South African captain in the tournament's history, helping his team reach 178-3 with 17 balls to spare.
Last edition's finalists South Africa chose to bowl first in Ahmedabad, and it immediately paid off as player of the match Jansen (4-40) dismissed most of New Zealand's top order by the seventh over.
Finn Allen (31 off 17 balls) tried to mitigate the damage after Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra fell to Jansen. But Jansen got Allen caught at mid off in the sixth over, leaving New Zealand struggling at 58-3.
Mark Chapman (48) and Daryl Mitchell (32) turned things around with a 74-run partnership for the fifth wicket, until Jansen got Chapman caught by Ryan Rickelton at backward point in the 14th.
New Zealand scored only 17 runs in the next four overs, until James Neesham's unbeaten 23 off 15 balls got them to a fighting total.
MARKRAM'S HEROICS SEAL THE WIN
Chasing 176, South Africa got off to a fast start with Markram hitting three sixes and five boundaries to steer his team to 62-0 in four overs.
Losing fellow opener Quinton de Kock (20) did not affect Markram, who hit Mitchell Santner for a six down long on to reach his half-century in just 19 balls. By the time Rickelton (21) fell in the eighth over, South Africa had already crossed the 100-run mark.
With the required run rate falling below six, Markram did not hit a single boundary in the next seven overs, and focused on rotating the strike, getting South Africa within 28 runs of victory with 30 balls left.
"It's about managing it through the right phases I guess, but up front you've seen how teams are taking on the powerplay and we'd be silly not to try that. It's not always going to come off but when it does... we can get ahead of the game," said Markram.
David Miller, who scored an unbeaten 24, cleared the mid wicket boundary to bring up the winning runs.
South Africa will conclude their group campaign against the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, a day after New Zealand play Canada.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)
