Tom Latham carried his bat for 63 and put on 96 for the first wicket with Devon Conway to set up New Zealand’s eight-wicket win over South Africa in their third Twenty20 on Friday (March 20, 2026).

Conway made 39 and Latham reached his fourth T20 half-century, helping New Zealand’s cricketers pass South Africa’s 136-9 with 22 balls remaining to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Batting conditions have been tricky and matches in the series have been low-scoring. South Africa won the first by seven wickets, chasing down New Zealand’s 91, and the Black Caps won the second by 68 runs, bowling out the opposition for 107.

South Africa batted out 20 overs for the first time on Friday (March 20), helped by a lively unbeaten 26 from 20 balls by Nqobani Mokoena in his first international innings.

Latham and Conway began their run chase quietly, taking five runs from the first two overs and 12 from the first three. They then took 14 from the fourth over, bowled by Mokoena, and 21 from the fifth by Lutho Sipamla to set New Zealand on the way to a comfortable win.

Conway fell in the 11th over, caught in the deep by Rubin Hermann off Keshav Maharaj and Tim Robinson was out for 17 in the 17th over when the scores were tied. Nick Kelly came out and hit a single for the winning run from the next ball.

“You look at the depth we’ve got at the moment…with a few guys away,” said New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner, who won the toss and sent South Africa in to bat.

“It was a simple blueprint tonight. The pitch looked like it was doing a little bit early. It looked tricky and it was good the way the two boys (Conway and Latham) could soak that up. You go too hard and you lose a couple of wickets, which makes the chase a little bit challenging.” The pitch at Eden Park typically is quick and bouncy and it provided that again but also held up at times. New Zealand used six bowlers and all six took wickets, including the spinners who helped their team make inroads in the South Africa top order.

Pace bowler Lockie Ferguson took 1-9 from four overs.

Santner found turn and, after coming on in the fifth over, dismissed Jason Smith (10) and Connor Esterhuizen (15).

Smith tried to cut a ball and mistimed his shot when the ball turned back from outside off. Esterhuizen scored all his runs in the third over before trying to hit Santner to the short, straight boundary but finding Kelly at mid-on.

Earlier, South Africa was 41-3 at the end of the powerplay and 61-5 at the midpoint of its innings.

George Linde and Gerald Coetzee put on 34 for the seventh wicket with Linde scoring 23 from 19 balls and Coetzee 16 from eight deliveries.

When Coetzee was out, South Africa was 103-8 in the 15th over and in danger again of being bowled out inside 20 overs. But Mokoena put on an unbroken partnership of 24 with Lutho Sipamla for the 10th wicket, South Africa’s highest for that wicket in T20s.

The fourth match is in Wellington on Sunday (March 22, 2026).

Tom Latham and Devon Conway earned a unique place in test history on Sunday (December 21, 2025) when their 192-run second innings partnership paved the way for New Zealand’s declaration at 306-2 on the fourth day of the third cricket test against the West Indies.

Latham made the declaration at drinks in the third session with New Zealand leading by 461 runs. New Zealand earlier had bowled out the West Indies for 420 in reply to its of 575-8, a first innings lead of 155.

At stumps after 16 overs the West Indies were 43-0 with Brandon King 37 and John Campbell 2. They will start the last day needing 419 to win on a pitch on which cracks and plates are creating inconsistent bounce.

Latham and Conway shared a 323-run opening stand in New Zealand’s first innings of 587-8 and became the first pair in tests to achieve a triple century and century partnership in the same match.

Conway followed his first innings of 227 with exactly 100 to become only the 10th player and first New Zealander to score a double century and century in the same test.

Latham made 137 in the first innings and 101 in the second, emulating his father Rod who joined with Mark Greatbatch to make century opening partnerships in both innings of a test against Zimbabwe in 1992.

Meanwhile Kane Williamson, batting first drop, had to wait padded up for more than 86 overs in the first innings and almost 40 overs in the second for his turn to bat.

He took advantage of his opportunity Sunday to reach 40 not out. Rachin Ravindra made an unbeaten 46 from 23 balls, rushing as the declaration approached.

In the series Conway made 0, 37, 60, 28, 227 and 100: 452 runs at 75.3. Latham made 24, 145, 11, 9, 137 and 101: 427 runs at 71.1. Conway and Latham’s partnerships in this test produced 515 runs, more than any opening pair in a single match in all tests.

“I think all the work the guys have been doing for a while now is paying off the way they want,” New Zealand batting coach Luke Ronchi said. “I think the mindset is where they want it to be and the trust in their own game and the game plans against particular bowlers is coming off.

“But it also a nice batting wicket as well, not the traditional sort of New Zealand wicket you see in most test matches.

Earlier on Sunday (December 21, 2025), Jacob Duffy took two quick wickets to help New Zealand bowl out the West Indies in the first hour of the fourth day.

The West Indies resumed at 381-6 but lost four wickets for 39 runs. Kavem Hodge remained 123 not out, his second test century and highest score.

Duffy took 4-86 in the first innings to go with his 5-34 and 3-122 in the first test and 5-38 and 4-86 in the second test: 18 wickets in total at an average of 17.3.