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Former Australian pace bowling great, Jason Gillespie, had tweeted last week that Zimbabwe had the capacity to do well at the World Twenty20 Cup provided their main batsmen regained their confidence. And, after yesterday’s sensational victory, Gillespie, who spent time here coaching the MidWest Rhinos before relocating to
England, will find a lot of justification to his comments.
Man-of-the-series Hamilton Masakadza and skipper Brendan Taylor produced a fantastic batting performance to propel Zimbabwe to their emphatic nine-wicket win yesterday.
The hosts, who had lost by six wickets to the Proteas the previous day, bounced back to crush their fancied opponents after successfully chasing a target of 147 for the loss of just one wicket and win with 17 balls remaining.
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 sealed both the game and the series for Zimbabwe.
Man-of-the-match Taylor torched the wild celebrations, which included a pitch invasion by the home supporters, when he blasted Wayne Parnell to the boundary as
Zimbabwe finished on 150/1 in 17.1 overs.
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-legged round robin matches.
But Zimbabwe edged Bangladesh by a superior net run rate to squeeze 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 did not set a huge target, keeping them under wraps until late on when Faf du Plessis (66) and Albie Morkel (34) featured in a 60-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
The Proteas had suffered a disastrous take-off when losing both openers Richard Levi, gone first ball, and captain Hashim Amla (3) in the first two overs.
Levi was trapped by Kyle Jarvis.
Soon the Proteas 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 short-lived 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 reeling at 67/5 after 11. 2 overs.
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 of the pedal as Zimbabwe cruised at well above the required run rate.
Taylor raced to his first fifty 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 status 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 Taylor hit 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 inside the ICC Future Tour Programme, but the series meant the world for the hosts.
The win carried a bulk of emotions for Zimbabwe and sight of Taylor embracing Masakadza at the end of the innings and the crowds invading the pitch, forcing players to abandon the lap of honour, best illustrated the wave of delirium that swept across Harare Sports Club.
“We are over the moon winning over 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 us 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 grand efforts.
“From the start we had, 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
Richard Levi lbw Jarvis 0
Hashim Amla c Waller b Mpofu 3
Colin Ingram c Utseya b Cremer 19
Faf du Plessis c Masakadza b Jarvis 66
Justin Ontong c & b Utseya 5
Dane Vilas c Taylor b Waller 2
Albie Morkel not out 34
Wayne Parnell not out 12
Extras (lb 2, w 3) 5
Total (6 wickets, 20 overs) 146
Did not bat — Robin Peterson, Chris Morris, Lonwabo Tsotsobe
FOW : 1-0 (Levi 0.1ov), 2-6 (Amla, 1.3 ov), 3-45 (Ingram 7.2 ov), 4-62 (Ontong, 10.4ov), 5-67 (Vilas, 11.3 ov), 6-127 ((du Plessis, 18.4 ov)
Bowlers: Jarvis: 4-0-22-2; Mpofu:3-0-19-1; Utseya: 4-0-29-1; Cremer: 3-0-17-1; Muzhange: 4-0-46-0; Waller: 2-0-11-1
Zimbabwe innings
Hamilton Masakadza not out 58
Vusi Sibanda c sub Behardien b Morris 23
Taylor not out 59
Extras (lb 3, w 4, nb 3) 10
Total (1 wicket, 20 overs) 150
Did not bat – Stuart Matsikenyeri, Malcom Waller, Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Prosper Utseya, Kyle Jarvis, Richard Muzhange
FOW: 1-32 (Sibanda, 3.3 ov),
Bowlers – Lonwabo Tsotsobe 4-0-43-0; Chris Morris 4-0-24-1; Wayne Parnell 3.1-0-27-0; Robin Peterson 3-0-35-0; Faf du Plessis 3-0-18-0
Online Reporter