With the 4th match finally in the books, South Africa had a pretty strong finish to this game against Zimbabwe. In a match that was kind of a do-or-die for either team to face New Zealand in the finals, the Proteas once again came out victorious against this Chevrons side and improved their record to 2-1 during this series.
Winning by 7 wickets, it was a great all-around team performance, and understanding the management of tense situations that helped South Africa win this match. Now that they have one more group stage match against New Zealand, that almost becomes a game where both sides can test their young pieces since they know they’re facing in the finals against each other.
Today was another performance where Rassie van Der Dussen provided reason why he was selected by head coach Shukri Conrad and management as captain, due to his great leadership, plus understanding what’s needed when under pressure. Meanwhile, this match will teach Zimbabwe a lot about the upcoming series, and there were some signs of improvement from this side, even though they didn’t come out on top.
Now that Zimbabwe are eliminated from the finals contention, their last match against New Zealand should be a key marker in order to create an upset and potentially give them more motivation for future series plus tournaments. As captain Sikandar Raza will still be there, a small sense of hope was shown in this match for the Zimbabwe side, with his leadership having a massive impact on others. But with one team playing in two days, while the other four, it is important to understand the key aspects of today’s match and why the result ended this way.
Zimbabwe Unit Tries Their Best To Get A Respectable Total
As this Zimbabwe group was set to bat first, they did an excellent job towards the middle of their innings, finishing with a total of 144/6. Wessley Madhevere once again seemed to get into a fast groove and hit two beautiful boundaries on each side. Someone who seemed like he could take command of the innings early on, he unfortunately got out to a well-executed ball by Corbin Bosch. Going for 13 runs, their other opener in Brian Bennett, had a monstrous performance as he once again proved why he can be a future star for this side.
Despite Zimbabwe being at a stage where they were 44/3 and their captain in Sikandar Raza, got caught out, Bennett didn’t make them lose hope as this piece kept on going. Launching sixes and hitting some very classy fours, the 21-year-old really helped build a 78 partnership and helped their score jump all the way to 122/4. He not only played a very controlled innings, but also possessed aggression towards the end, and got tons of help from Ryan Burl on other side.
Burl was able to amass 36 runs during 31 balls and showed great touch with his three total boundaries, including two fours. Although he ended up not getting out, the moment his partner in Brian Bennett, left, everything went downhill, and both Tashinga Musekiwa plus Tony Munyonga both got taken out within an over to make it 126/6. As the bottom order couldn’t give any impactful innings, Zimbabwe was very reliant on the top order to get a somewhat decent score.
South Africa’s Bowling Dominates Once Again
With the plethora of weapons this South African attack has, it was another day full of action by this unit. Their most experienced piece in Lungi Ngidi, really had fantastic overs in both the powerplay and death overs as he was one of the major limiting factors for Zimbabwe to go past 150 runs. Going at a 7.25 economy, his pace and accuracy were both spot-on in this match, while he was the one to clean-bowl Brian Bennett today as well.
Coming in from the other side was left arm speedstet Nandre Burger, who bowled at an amazing rate of just allowing five runs per over and also adding a wicket on his end. As he is a true quickie, Burger clocked 140-150 km/hr several times today and seemed on a mission during the middle, where George Linde was struggling in a spell with him.
Although Linde had a rare bad performance today, as he didn’t pose any wicket-taking threat, Corbin Bosch had another fantastic outing today by being extremely economical. During his first two overs itself, this all-rounder managed to allow just four runs and finished with just 16 combined through his four. As he was the one to get Wessley Madhevere out before the opener could create any pressure, Bosch was able to add two wickets to his T20I international total. The last bowler who seemed to assert dominance on this side was Nqaba Peter because, even though he went for 9 runs per over, his bowling ability led him to take a massive wicket of Sikandar Raza.
Rassie van der Dussen’s knock floors Zimbabwe
When the opening of this innings started, there was a lot of pressure on South Africa early as both their openers failed to show any batting prowess yet again. Seeing that Lhuan-Dre Pretorious was the first wicket and scored under 10 for the 2nd time in his previous three matches, his getting out meant another out-of-form batter in Rassie van Der Dussen had to come in.
On the other end, Reeza Hendricks had so many opportunities to build up this innings, but was removed quite quickly as well. Losing him put this side at 22/2 and in a world of pressure until Rubin Hermann came in and changed everything. He really imposed his will and created a 106-run partnership with captain Rassie van Der Dussen to put South Africa within striking distance.
Hermann finished his innings with 63 runs before getting clean-bowled, and showed an amazing ability to hit mammoth sixes. As he was someone who should this skill in the SA20 prior to this match, it was great to see the skills translate in an impactful run chase. End up with four maximums, Hermann showed his aggression towards opposing bowlers while being the one who went fast, with Rassie van Der Dussen being the more controlled one.
Talking about the captain, he was finally able to knock a half-century, and the timing of his boundaries seemed world-class today. As he hit six of them, South Africa’s winning performance was finished off by Dewald Brevis, who added one six plus one four.
Zimbabwe’s Bowling Created Pressure Despite Losing
Although the Chevrons eventually came out with a loss today, their bowling did a pretty solid job to keep them in this match. Despite Blessing Muzarabani not playing as their best pacer, Richard Ngarava took that leadership role and delivered a wicket to end Rubin Hermann’s and Rassie van Der Dussen’s partnership, even though it was too late.
Tinotenda Maposa was the bowler who initiated a lot of pressure early on by getting both of South Africa’s openers in quick succession and forcing them into a world of trouble. Their third major pacer in Trevor Gwandu, went for an economy under 7.7 in his first three overs, before Brevis put the finishing touches on it. The one spinner who stood out and made the early middle overs more competitive was Wellington Masakadza, as he had a chance for a wicket or two, plus helped round out this bowling unit.
Also Read: ZIM vs SA : Wiaan Mulder Reflects On His Unbeaten 367 After Conversation With Brian Lara