<p><strong>T20 series in Zimbabwe was a worthy exercise: Hashim Amla – Cricket News Update</strong></p>
<p>Following their 9-wicket defeat at the hands of minnows Zimbabwe in the final match of the Twenty20 Triangular Series at the Harare Sports Club on June 24, South African skipper Hashim Amla observed that the experience had taught his side some “hard lessons”.</p>
<p>“We knew what the squad for Sri Lanka will be, this is a good indicator to selectors,” explained Amla. “It was challenging, similar to what we could expect in Sri Lanka, a worthy exercise and hopefully we walk away with some hard lessons learnt.”</p>
<p>South Africa’s participation in the unofficial tri-series, against lower-ranked teams such as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, was seen as a futile exercise by many including former Cricket South Africa selector Hugh Paige, who claimed that he was “amazed that we
would go and play against two lowly-ranked sides” before embarking on an all-important tour of England in July.</p>
<p>However, the board insisted that the team’s participation in the event was part of head coach Gary Kirsten’s plan to ensure that the team had sufficient practice in the T20 format prior to the ICC World T20, due to be hosted by Sri Lanka in September this
year.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that their line-up for the tri-series in Zimbabwe had many choice players (such as Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, AB de Villiers, and Jacques Kallis) missing from their ranks, stand-in skipper Amla had claimed that the team expected to win the
series.</p>
<p>However, the Harare Sports Club proved to be a venue where the Proteas were greeted by several surprises.</p>
<p>Following a fairly solid start against Bangladesh, which saw Amla’s men securing a 39-run win, South Africa (ranked second from the top on each of the ICC’s lists for top 10 Test, ODI and T20 teams) went on to concede a shocking 29-run defeat to Zimbabwe
on June 20.</p>
<p>This was followed by a 3-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh, and even though the Proteas attempted to make amends with a 6-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the 6<sup>th</sup> match of the series, which earned them a spot in the tournament final against
the hosts, they were unable to follow through, and ended up losing the final by 9 wickets.</p>
<p>Pointing out that their team had managed to put up a respectable total, Amla observed that the bowlers had been ineffective when it came to defending, and congratulated the opposing team for a well-deserved win.</p>
<p>“From the start we had, 146 was a good defendable score. It's quite disappointing but hats off to Zimbabwe, they deserved to win,” he said.</p>
<p>Despite a complete top-order collapse, Faf du Plessis had managed to rally his side with a vital 66, in addition to a 60-run partnership with Albie Morkel (34) which enabled them to post a respectable total of 146 on the board.</p>
<p>However, their bowlers were unable to restrict the run flow or claim more than one wicket (Vusi Sibanda who was dismissed by Chris Morris), and the 118-run partnership between Hamilton Masakadza (58) and Brendan Taylor (59) powered the Rhodesians to a historic
victory.</p>
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