Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE find themselves on the brink of elimination from the Tri-Series after South Africa strolled to an easy 43-run win over the Chevrons in a one-sided encounter at the FNB Namibia Cricket Grounds yesterday.
After electing to bat first, South Africa posted 185 runs for 8 before skittling the Chevrons out for 142.
Lhuandre Pretorius emerged as the chief tormentor, with the South African opener putting up 94 runs off 51 balls, an innings that comprised 12 boundaries and three maximums.
He found assistance in the form of fellow opener Jordan Hermann and Dewald Brevis, who chipped in with 28 off 25 balls and 41 off 27 balls respectively.
The trio combined for two crucial partnerships that put the game beyond Zimbabwe’s reach and set South Africa well on course for a huge victory.
The duo of Pretorius and Hermann combined for 68 off 46 balls for the first wicket, while Brevis joined the former for another 86 off 46 balls in their second-wicket stand.
The absence of Richard Ngarava, who misses the whole tour, and the decision to rest Blessing Muzarabani has seriously exposed the Chevrons’ reliance on the duo in the bowling department.
Rookie Kundai Matigimu received his T20 international debut, with the 28-year-old coming in for Muzarabani.
He was one of two changes made by coach Justin Sammons, as Innocent Kaia was also brought in for Dion Myers in an attempt to bolster the Zimbabwe top order that has emerged as one of the kinks in the Chevrons’ armour.
Unfortunately, the changes failed to get the desired result as Matigimu had a debut he would soon rather forget.
He bowled only two overs, which cost 29 runs, while he finished with an unbeaten 11 off seven balls with the bat.
Wessly Madhevere and Brad Evans were left to pick up the slack, with the pair contributing three wickets for 20 runs and two for 33.
Newman Nyamhuri chipped in with a wicket as the Zimbabwe bowlers failed to get any headway, especially at the top of the South Africa innings.
South Africa coach Shukri Conrad will probably not even fret over a huge chunk of his batters failing to reach double figures, as the trio of Pretorius, Brevis and Hermann carried all the load.
If Zimbabwe’s bowling performance was below par, then the batting was even worse.
Set a target of 186, the Zimbabwe camp probably fancied their chances after posting 190 in their five-run win over hosts Namibia on Monday.
Granted, Namibia’s bowling department is not as potent, but the Chevrons did well to restrict South Africa to less than 200.
Glimmer of hope.
Unfortunately, that hope soon evaporated as the opening pair of Ben Curran and Brian Bennett (13) failed to replicate the great starts they have made in the tournament so far.
The two could only put on 20 off 11 balls before Pretorius took a fine catch off the bowling of Bjorn Fortuin at square-leg to remove Curran for 4 off 6 balls.
Kaia had a short, enterprising cameo, making 18 off 11 balls before he was bowled by Duan Jansen.
At this point, Zimbabwe lost wickets at regular intervals, with even the usually reliable Ryan Burl and Tadiwanashe Marumani failing to impact the game.
Jansen accounted for both batters.
He had Burl caught and bowled for 1 off 3 balls and then trapped Marumani leg-before-wicket for a golden duck.
The story of the day, however, belonged to skipper Sikandar Raza, who finally put some runs on the board to end his miserable run.
Raza top-scored for Zimbabwe with 45 off 33 balls before he was stumped by wicketkeeper Connor Esterhuizen off the bowling of Fortuin.
Nyamhuri chipped in with 27 off 25 balls, with his brief cameo at the death bringing some respectability to Zimbabwe’s 142-run total.
Fortuin finished as the pick of the South African bowlers with 4 for 24, while Jansen chipped in with 3 for 21.
The duo of Prenelan Subrayen and Nqabayomzi Peter chipped in with one scalp each.
The win means South Africa have one foot in Sunday’s final while a lot of questions remain over Zimbabwe and Namibia’s fate.
South Africa top the log standings with four points and, more importantly, a healthy net run-rate of 1.386.
Zimbabwe and hosts Namibia are tied on two points and are only separated by net run-rate.
Zimbabwe, who have played a game more, anchor the log standings with a net run-rate of -1.691, as opposed to Namibia’s 0.325.
The two sides, however, meet in their second round-robin tie tomorrow, after which Namibia face South Africa on Friday in the last match of the round-robin stage.
The two matches should produce a clearer picture of Sunday’s final.
“I think we need to win our next game and SA need to win theirs, and then the picture is clear,” said Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza.
“Not all is lost, however.
“The scorecard says something, but the batters have a new mindset.
“I think we closed out the death pretty well against set batters.
“The last 4-5 overs were very special.
“That one over from Madhevere was special, while the pacers closing it out without Blessing was encouraging.
“With the bat, some boxes still need ticking. If we had wickets in hand with that score, we could have taken it much closer.
“Our bowlers take a lot of pride in their batting as well.
“We have to come together and play a bit smarter, but still positively, and the tide will turn,” he said.
