http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 A – Match Recap
South Africa A defeated Zimbabwe XI by 17 runs in a keenly contested tri-series fixture at the Harare Sports Complex on the 6th of July, 2011.
Home team’s captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Sibanda-c2740 won the toss and elected to ball first on flat batting conditions. The only reason to have opted to ball first was the fact that Zimbabwe likes to chase totals, rather than putting score on the board by batting first.
The Proteas were off to a slow and sedate start as they could not find enough momentum at the start of the innings but they did well by not losing a lot of wickets.
Majority of the South African batsmen were off to good starts but they failed to convert them into big knocks. However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rilee-Rossouw-c2322 was an exception as he played the role of a sheet-anchor for the visitors.
He along with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vaughn-van-Jaarsveld-c2749 scored 77 runs for the fifth wicket partnership but no one else batted long enough for the Proteas. This is the reason why, South Africa managed just 244 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 50 overs.
Rossouw remained the top scorer as he made a brilliant 92 off just 93 balls in which he struck five fours and a couple of massive sixes. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-Robert-Cowdrey-c60631 Jaarsveld was the only other
notable contributor as he scored 38 runs off 42 balls with the help of four
boundaries.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/E-Chigumbura-c1411 also picked up a couple of crucial wickets.
Chasing a mediocre total, Zimbabwe XI were off to a very good total through Sibanda and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/H-Masakadza-c1517. The two of them accumulated 66 runs for the first wicket
partnership, before the former was dismissed in the 14th over of the innings.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/F-Mutizwa-c1426 formed another good partnership in the middle of the innings and they laid the platform for a Zimbabwean victory. However, the lower middle order batsmen disappointed big time and could not come to terms with the South
African bowlers.
The whole team was bowled out for 227 runs in the 43rd over of the innings and handed over a victory to the Proteas.
Chakabva scored a nice half-century for the home team, whereas, Masakadza and Mutizwa scored 47 and 39 runs respectively.
Medium pacer, Rusty Theron was the star for South Africa A, as he picked up four wickets to break the back of the Zimbabwean team. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Alexander-c1288 also claimed three crucial scalps to help his team’s cause.
Rilee Rossouw was named as the Player of the Match for his outstanding innings earlier in the day.
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