Brooke Halliday. Photo: Photosport
Half-centuries to allrounders Brooke Halliday and Hannah Rowe weren't enough as the White Ferns suffered a four-wicket loss to South Africa in their opening one-day international in Potchefstroom on Monday.
The pair rescued New Zealand's innings, which was teetering at 55-5 after being sent in, putting on 117 to propel the total to 235-8.
South Africa's top order struggled similarly but a late revival lifted them to 236-6 with 17 balls remaining to hand them first blood in the three-match series.
The White Ferns were rocked onto the back foot by the cheap early dismissals of veterans Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine inside the first seven overs.
They only found momentum through well-paced knocks from Halliday (76 off 92 balls) and Rowe (52 off 72), who both posted their highest ODI scores.
Rowe was also the pick of New Zealand's bowling attack, taking 2-26 off six overs while fellow-seamer Jess Kerr claimed 2-47 off 10.
They couldn't prevent the Proteas storming home over the closing stages on the back of 71 from Chloe Tryon and an unbeaten 58 from Nadine de Klerk, after their chase had been reduced to 111-5 in the 28th over.
New Zealand's series hopes weren't helped when it was announced on Saturday that wicketkeeper batter Bernadine Bezuidenhout had been ruled out of the tour after being diagnosed with post-viral Pericarditis.
The second match is in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday.
- RNZ