Rod Latham batted extremely well for 60, and an opening partnership of 114 from only 18 overs was cricket's equivalent of breaking the sound barrier.
But even Latham could only stand and admire the furious blast from Greatbatch, fours and sixes flying all over the places, including a six on the roof of the north stand.
Afterwards Martin Crowe, the New Zealand captain, mentioned that Greatbatch had been on such an adrenalin binge he later remembered very little of his innings - in fact Greatbatch had, said Crowe, played an "unconscious" innings.
Heaven help the bowlers, then, when Greatbatch bats with all his conscious faculties in full array.
And, if the innings was all one great big glorious haze, it might help Greatbatch to mention that for a little more than an hour he and the 29,000 equally inspired spectators were harnessed together in an unforgettable piece of sport - those glorious moments when mere human endeavour goes so far, and then some hero transports the game and the watchers to some new and rarely visited height.
Beauty
Ian Smith, a few years ago, played a similar innings for 173 against India one unforgettable afternoon. That was arrant piracy, Smith's bat like a wildly swung sabre.
On Saturday Gretabatch played some stokes of stirring beauty, other of more homely and rugged power.
In his 68 he hit nine fours and three sixes, sent thousands of youngsters home with joy in their hearts and caused another generation of South Africans to wonder whether they could ever find sporting justice at Eden Park.
They might, if they organise their one-day tactics better than they managed on Saturday. They gained a major advantage by winning the toss and batting first, and then promptly surrendered that by some witless batting early in their innings.
Crowe pulled a few more tricks out of his bag, again with Dipak Patel opening the bowling.
In fact if the Chinese ever take to cricket they may nod sagely at Crowe's wisdom in starting with the modest pace of Patel, slipping through the cosy medium pace of Chris Harris, Rod Latham and Gavin Larsen, and ending with the fastest bowler, Chris Cairns.
But Crowe's back-to-front bowling plan seemed to bemuse the South Africans, and they tottered along to 29 for three in 16 overs before Kirsten and David Richardson put some life into the innings with a 79-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Weird
That lifted South Africa to 108 for four wickets, but 35 overs had gone, and when Adrian Kuiper was run out (after being caught from a no-ball) in the same over the target of 220-230 was never going to be reached.
Kirsten worked on bravely, 129 balls and 156 minutes, but it said much for the weird course of the South African batting that he scored 10 fours, and Richardson, Brian McMi8llan and Richard Snell hit only one each.
Like their batsmen, the South African bowlers faced a stiffer examination of their quality than Australia could manage on Wednesday night, and never gained a pass-mark.
Greatbatch and Latham found, to the delight of their vast appetite for boundaries, that even the fastest of them, Alan Donald, did not hold a bowling line in harmony with his field.
So the New Zealanders were offered frequent chances to cut, and then as the bowling pattern became untidy, more opportunities to get on the front foot and hit high and reasonably straight.
Tribute
Latham and Greatbatch reached their 100 stand in 15 overs, which must have been some kind of fast-scoring record for New Zealand.
A few weeks before Ian Botham launched a similar blast at the New Zealanders in Christchurch, but in 15 overs England had gained only 79 runs - so the Greatbatch-Latham stand will remain some sort of landmark, permanently imprinted in the memories of those lucky enough to be on the fringe of such supercharged activity.
Afterwards Greatbatch paid genuine tribute to his friends, his family, his teammates who had kept the faith when his scores were low.
Perhaps, too, he should take special care of that part of the Greatbatch psyche which sparks the kind of blazing, brilliant unconsciousness that carved more sorrow into South African hearts on Saturday.
South Africa 190 for 7, 50 overs
Kirsten 90, Watson 2-30, Cairns 2-43
New Zealand 191 for 3, 34.2 overs
Greatbatch 68, Latham 60, Donald 1-38
Man of the match - Greatbatch
