Zimbabwe A’s batting woes continued to haunt them after another foiled run chase saw them blow a glorious chance to book a place in Saturday’s Triangular ‘A’ series final slumping to a crushing 41- run defeat to South Africa ‘A’ at Harare Sports Club.
The hosts, who failed to chase a paltry 216 runs for victory on a decent batting track, will now meet Sri Lanka “A” in their final round robin match today needing a win to book a place in the final.
South Africa “A” won the toss and elected to bat but found the going tough as the Zimbabwe “A”‘bowlers restricted them to just 215 all-out in exactly 47 overs.
In-form batsman Colin Ingram top-scored with 51 runs while Faf du Plessis contributed 41 runs off just 35 balls to give their team’s total some respectability.
Seamer Shingi Masakadza was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe “A” after taking three wickets for 43 runs in nine overs while the trio of Brian Vitori, Tendai Chatara and leg spinner Tinotenda Kamungozi also chipped in with two wickets apiece.
Chasing what looked like an easily reachable target, Zimbabwe “A” pushed the self-destruct button after a disappointing batting display saw them bundled out for a measly 174 in 45.4 overs.
The only consolation for them is that they can still qualify courtesy of a superior net run rate if they avoid a heavy defeat.
South Africa A won the toss and elected to bat.
