Zimbabwe put up one of their most impressive all-round displays in Twenty20 cricket to convincingly beat the more fancied South Africans by 29 runs and maintain their unbeaten record in the Pran RFL Triangular Series at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
Zimbabwe — who can seal a place in Sunday’s final with a win against Bangladesh today — were impressive in all departments and outshone their Southern African neighbours in all departments.
Man-of-the-match Christopher Mpofu and leg spinner Graeme Cremer both claimed three wickets apiece to bowl out the star-studded Proteas batting line-up for 147 in 19,2 overs.
Steered by half centuries from openers Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda, Zimbabwe had set the Proteas a competitive 176 in their allotted 20 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat. They only lost four wickets.
A fired-up Mpofu stepped up his game and was rewarded after retaining impressive bowling figures of three for just 20 runs in his four overs.
The lanky seamer’s best moment in the match was when he captured the two crucial wickets of Robin Peterson (13 off 11 balls) and Collin Ingram (48 off 39) from successive deliveries in the 17th over to turn the game around.
This set the tone for a famous win as Richard Muzhange would dismiss the hard -hitting Albie Morkel for just 10 runs in the 18th over before Kyle Jarvis rearranged Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s stumps in the final over to torch wild celebrations.
Cremer had earlier wrecked the South Africans’ middle order after achieving the same feat in the ninth over when he captured the wickets of Justin Otong for four and Dane Vilas for a first ball-duck.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
The 25 year-old leg spinner went on to finish with equally notable figures of three for 29 in four overs. Muzhange was also impressive finishing with two wickets while spinner Prosper Utseya and seamer Kyle Jarvis also shared a wicket apiece.
Zimbabwe coach Alan Butcher was full of praise for his side following the impressive win. “As the coaching set-up, we are proud to witness such a polished performance from the boys. I thought we did well with Hamilton and Vusi batting well. The South Africans were on top for most of the innings, but our bowling was outstanding with Richard Muzhange, Graeme Cremer and Chris Mpofu all bowling very well. Apart from one dropped catch, we were also impressive in the field so we are very happy that all the work we put in since the beginning of May paid off,” said Butcher.
Zimbabwe had earlier named an unchanged side for yesterday’s match with the openers going on to show very little respect for the South African bowling department.
The pair of Sibanda and Masakadza rattled the South African bowlers after getting off to a flying start with a combination of well-timed boundaries which were complemented by well-judged quick singles.
The duo shared a 114-run first wicket partnership stand in 13,3 overs with the in-form Masakadza (55 off 39) posting his second consecutive half century of the series in an innings which included five fours and a six.
The South Africans got their breakthrough when Masakadza went aerial from a shortish leg stump ball from Robin Peterson which was caught comfortably by Ingram at deep mid-wicket.
Two overs later, Sibanda was given a second life-line while on 56 after he was dropped by Richard Levi off the bowling of Wayne Parnell.
Sibanda, who finished on 58 off 50 balls, blasted only one more delivery though before presenting an easy catch to Lonwabo Tsotsobe at third man.
Following the early dismissal of allrounder Elton Chigumbura for a first-ball duck skipper Brendan Taylor resurrected the innings with 38 off 21 balls to steer Zimbabwe to a competitive score. Zimbabwe were given an early breakthrough when seamer Mpofu captured the big wicket of the South African skipper Hashim Amla for just 11 runs in the third over.
Amla had barely settled before he was caught at mid-on by Masakadza while attempting to add to his two boundaries.
While Mpofu had been impressive early on among the seamers, the introduction of the spinners saw Zimbabwe striking the right chord with regular wickets in the mid-innings before the seamers finished the match off at the death.
