Zimbabwe v South Africa – Zimbabwe Twenty20 Triangular Series (3rd Match) – Match Recap – Zimbabwe down South Africa in stunning 29-run victory
In what turned out to be a classic case of David versus Goliath, underdogs Zimbabwe nabbed a surprising 29-run victory over formidable opponents South Africa in the 3rd match of the ongoing T20 tri-series at the Harare Sports Club on June 20.
Displaying the all-round professionalism of a much higher-ranked team, Zimbabwe followed up a strong batting performance with an intense bowling attack which left the Proteas powerless to avoid defeat. Bolstered by a solid century stand between openers Vusi Sibanda and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CB-Mpofu-c1219, Graeme Cremer, and Richard Muzhange reduced the visitors to 147, all out.
The match started out with Zimbabwe choosing to bat after winning the toss on a surface which has shown the tendency to get slower as the day progresses. Wasting no time, Sibanda (58) and Masakadza (55) got their team off to a strong start with a valiant 114-run opening stand.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/WD-Parnell-c2787 intervened to break it up.
The Proteas medium-pacer made amends for his dismal 0 for 61 against Bangladesh in the previous match by claiming 2 wickets in the 16th over – Sibanda was caught out by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/E-Chigumbura-c1411 who followed was dismissed on duck 2 deliveries later, leaving Zimbabwe at 129 for 3.
However, Taylor did not allow the team’s momentum to flag, and contributed a quick 38 off 21 to keep the home team going. Aided by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Richard-Ervine-c51733 (2) and the hosts ended their innings on 176 for 4.
A 177-run chase should not have posed much of a problem for South Africa, who occupy the second spot from the top on the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625’s T20 team rankings. However, bolstered by the fighting total their team had put up, the Zimbabwe bowling attack came onto the pitch eager to defend it, with not a single bowler going wicketless in the end.
The Proteas got off to a fair start, with openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HM-Amla-c1557 (11) setting up an opening partnership which yielded 20 runs. However, the sudden dismissal of their captain in the 3rd over, at the hands of Chris Mpofu, left the tourists visibly rattled.
Levi managed to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/P-Utseya-c2145 in the 9th over, leaving his side at 74 for 2.
The remainder of the batting order were completely helpless in the face of Zimbabwe’s assault, spearheaded by Player of the Match Mpofu (4-0-20-3) and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dane-Vilas-c1307 was bowled on the very next delivery on duck.
By this point the Proteas were faltering at 79 for 4, with 97 runs needed off 60 balls. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JP-Duminy-c1742 was unable to resuscitate the batting order, and found himself walking back to the pavilion after a contribution of 6 runs, dismissed by Cremer in the 12th over.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RJ-Peterson-c2332 caught and bowled at 13, following which the tourists’ top-scorer Ingram was dismissed 3 deliveries later.
Youngsters Muzhange and Jarvis stepped in to nip the tourists’ tail, with the former claiming de Lange (3) for his second victim, while Jarvis had Tsotsobe bowled at 1.
The Proteas found themselves all out at 147 – 29 runs short of the target, with 4 deliveries remaining. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 yet again, at the same venue today on June 21.
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