South Africa goes 1-0 up in the three-match T20 series against Zimbabwe. Imran Tahir with his magic “Fifer” spell destroyed the Zimbabwe batting once again the tour. Having won the toss and opted to bat first, South Africa posted a competitive total of 160-6 in 20 overs. Zimbabwe didn’t manage to build any big partnership to chase the target as Tahir struck at regular intervals to keep them under pressure. South Africa restricted them to 126 in 17.2 overs, 34 runs short of the target. Tahir was the hero of the day with his spell reading 4-0-23-5.
South African openers de Kock and Cloete were back in the pavilion within two overs of the play. du Plessis and Dussen added 31 runs for the third wicket. du Plessis got out after scoring 34 off 20 deliveries and it was the fourth wicket which set a competitive total for Proteas where Miller and Duessen added 87 runs in 59 balls. Once Miller departed, they could add only 20 runs in the final three overs. Dussen scored a brilliant half-century ( 56 off 44 balls) and Miller was out on 39. Jarvis took three wickets and Mpofu took two for Zimbabwe.
The chase was never on, as Tahir bowled Chibhabha in the second over with just six runs on the board. Tahir was on the action again in the fourth over as he dismissed Masakadza and Musakanda in successive balls. Zimbabwe was down to 11-3 and required a big partnership to keep the game alive. Brendon Taylor and Sean Williams added 29 runs for the fourth wicket before Junior Dala dismissed Taylor for 19. Williams and Moor added another 25 runs to the total, but Tahir had two wickets in two deliveries to leave the batting side 65-6 in the 12th over. Only resistance after the collapse came from Moor and Mavuta adding 53 runs in four overs for the 8th wicket partnership. However, that wasn’t enough to chase down the target. They were all out for 126 in 17.2 overs. Moor was the last man to be dismissed with a top score of 44.
The teams will now move to Potchefstroom for the second match of the series.
