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The home team, who had lost by six wickets to the Proteas the previous day, bounced back to see off their fancied opponents after successfully chasing a target of 147 for the loss of one wicket and with 17 balls remaining much to the delight of the appreciative crowd.
South Africa had breezed into the final as the favourites but after the good work from the home team’s bowlers to restrict them to 146/6 in their 20 overs, it needed big men like Masakadza (58) and Taylor (59) to come to the party.
The pair shared an unbeaten 118-run partnership that virtually sealed both the game and the series for Zimbabwe. Man of the match Taylor torched the wild celebrations when he sent Wayne Parnell to the boundary as Zimbabwe finished on 150/1 in 17.1 overs to complete their second victory of the tournament over their big brothers.
Zimbabwe had beaten South Africa by 29 runs in their first meeting last Wednesday before falling to Bangladesh and then to their neighbours by six wickets on Saturday, which left all the three teams at par on eight points after the two-leg round robin matches. But Zimbabwe edged Bangladesh by a superior net run-rate to sneak their way into the final.
Punters could have tipped South Africa to make light work of the hosts, but a great fighting spirit from the Zimbabweans saw them bouncing back in a big way from the two losses.
South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first on a fine afternoon, but the home side ensured that they do not set a huge target, keeping them under wraps until late when Faf du Plessis (66) and Albie Morkel (34) opened up in a 60-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
The Proteas had got off to a disastrous take off when losing both openers Richard Levi, for a golden duck, and captain Hashim Amla (3) in the first two overs. Levi was adjudged lbw the first ball of the match delivered by Kyle Jarvis.
Soon the southern neighbours were two wickets down when Chris Mpofu had Amla caught by Malcom Waller with six runs on the scoreboard after only 1.3 overs.
Du Plessis then featured in three shortlived partnerships with Colin Ingram (19), Justin Ontong (5), and Dane Vilas (2) as South Africa progressed at a below par rate while Zimbabwe piled the pressure to see their opponents at 67/5 after 11. 2 overs at one stage.
But Albie Morkel (34 from 23) and top scorer du Plessis pushed the scores to 146, which Amla felt was defendable. Fast bowler Jarvis claimed 2-22 from his four overs while Chris Mpofu, Malcom Waller, Graeme Cremer and Prosper Utseya had a wicket each.
In respone, the hosts lost Vusi Sibanda who had contributed 23 runs from the 15 deliveries he faced but once Taylor joined Masakadza in the middle, the pair never took the foot off the pedal as Zimbabwe cruised at well above the required run rate.
Taylor raced to his first 50 of the tournament from 32 balls, which included five fours and a six. Zimbabwe’s 100 came after exactly 11 overs while South Africa needed 15.1 to reach the landmark.
In form batsman Masakadza underlined his acclaim as the best player of the tournament when he scored his fourth half century after facing 48 deliveries. Masakadza drew Zimbabwe closer to victory in the 17th over when he forced three boundaries in succession off Lonwabo Tsotsobe before Brendan Taylor hit Wayne Parnell for a four, the first ball of the next over to get the winning runs. The tournament might have been dubbed unofficial since it did not fall in the Future Tour Programme but the series meant so much for the hosts.
The win carried a bulk of emotions for the hosts and the sight of Taylor embracing Masakadza at the end of the innings and the crowds thronging the pitch, forcing players to abandon the lap of honour could best explain the feeling.
“We are over the moon winning over a quality international team,” said Taylor.
“We are extremely proud on the way we prepared leading up to the series and the way we ended up we are extremely happy with the way it turned out.
“We are not looking so much at why they left some of their good players. We know they have good depth and at the end of the day we managed to beat a good side and it gives confidence ahead of the Twenty20 World,” said Taylor.
South African skipper Amla said he was disappointed by the defeat and gave credit to Zimbabwe for their efforts.
“From the start, 146 was a good defendable score. It’s quite disappointing but hats off to Zimbabwe, they deserved to win.
We know what the squad for Sri Lanka will be, this is a good indicator to selectors.
“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,” said Amla.
South Africa Innings
Online Reporter