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Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Cricket have opened the gates free of charge for cricket enthusiasts to come and back the Zimbabwe XI side in the one-day series decider against the touring South Africa A at the Harare Sports Club today.
The three-match series is delicately balanced at 1-1 after the hosts fell to a 51-run defeat in the second match on Wednesday via the Duckworth-Lewis method.
In fact, both matches had to be decided that way because of bad weather elements. Zimbabwe XI drew the first blood when they claimed a five-run victory, thanks to the batting prowess of skipper Sikandar Raza, Prince Masvaure and Milton Shumba, as they successfully chased 273/7.
But they could not stage a similar comeback in the second game, which lost considerable overs due to weather interventions again.
Raza and Shumba led a fine recovery operation after a disastrous start to the innings, but could not prevent a 51-run Duckworth-Lewis defeat after South Africa A batted first and put on 266/6.
The home side again won the toss and took the same course as in the first match by sending the tourists in to bat.
Tendai Chatara struck early when he trapped the opening batter, Tony de Zorzi, lbw for a single, with 13 runs on the board.
Then followed the big stand of the innings, as Reeza Hendricks joined Ryan Rickelton and the pair dominated the Zimbabwean bowling to put on 106 for the second wicket in 21 overs.
Halfway through the 50 overs, Wellington Masakadza finally broke the stand by having Rickelton caught at deep midwicket for 63, scored off 82 balls with a six and five fours.
Khaya Zondo did not last long, as he was bowled by Raza for six, at 127 for three.
Theunis de Bruyn scored 24 before being caught at long-on off Masakadza.
The score was 205 when Hendricks was smartly stumped by Richmond Mutumbami off Raza for a fine innings of 102 – he faced 107 balls in almost two-and-a-half hours and hit 10 fours, an innings that gave his team a considerable advantage.
Andile Phehlukwayo contributed an aggressive 27 before he was caught at deep midwicket off Chatara, returning for his final spell.
Now Heinrich Klaassen, with 28 not out off 16 balls, and Bjorn Fortuin, eight not out off six balls, began to attack the bowling furiously at the death.
They were interrupted, though, by an untimely burst of rain that drove the players off the field and so held up play that the innings had to be cut short after 46.5 overs, with the score at 266 for six wickets.
Three Zimbabwean bowlers took two wickets each: Chatara had two for 44 in 8.5 overs, with rain stopping him from completing his quota, while Masakadza had two for 49 and Raza two for 56 in their full 10 overs.
The Duckworth-Lewis calculation gave Zimbabwe XI the very difficult target of 283 runs to win in 46 overs.
After eight overs, their innings was virtually in tatters. Zimbabwe XI were deep in trouble at 23 for four wickets as Shumba and Raza came together with the task of repairing the damage.
They did a fine job in a very difficult situation, selecting their shots very well and keeping the score moving at quite a good pace, while all the time the light was deteriorating and rain threatening.
The umpires kept the players on the field until 20 overs had been bowled, the minimum necessary for a match to be decided according to Duckworth-Lewis, and then immediately took them off the field.
The score at this stage was a much healthier 93 for four wickets, with Shumba on 31 and Raza 39.
No improvement came, however, and the match was declared over, with South Africa A victors under Duckworth-Lewis by 51 runs.
Lizaad Williams was the best of their bowlers, bowling five overs to take two wickets for 19 runs. They go out this morning cognizant of the fact that whoever wins today will bag the series.
The series will be followed by five Twenty20 games set to begin next Monday. The other T20 games will be played on May 4, 7, 8 and 10.
Online Reporter