Zimbabwe came up with a better show against South Africa in the final ODI match at Boland Park, Paarl. However, that wasn’t enough to stop SA claiming their third win in the series. Winning the toss and opting to bat first Zimbabwe posted a fighting total of 228 on board before getting all out in the final over of the match. SA comfortably chased down the target in 46th over with 4 wickets in hand to win the series.
Zimbabwe had a better outing at Boland Park with the bat compared to their previous two games. Their start wasn’t ideal and lost three wickets for 44 runs within 10 overs, but thanks to Craig Ervine and Sean Williams for their resistance and 73 runs partnership which took them to 117 in 26 overs. Taylor departed for a well made 40 off 44 balls. Williams then added 34 runs with Peter Moor which took them to 150. Williams fell soon after with a score 69 off 79 balls. Zimbabwe added 69 runs in the last 15 overs to which took them over 200 for the first time in the series. Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada picked up three wickets each while Tahir and Andile picked up two each. Shamzi was the only expensive bowler giving away 72 runs in his 10 overs.
Proteas were off to a solid start with an opening partnership of 75 runs in 12.3 overs. Markram(42) was the first one to go scoring when he was given LBW in Sean Willams’s over. Faf du Plessis scored 26 on his comeback match and Duminy followed him with a score of 1. Reeza was dismissed by Tiripano for 66 and South Africa were still 73 runs away from the target. Heinrich Klassen and Khaya Zondo added 56 runs for the 5th wicket partnership. Klassen fell for 59 and they lost another wicket soon. Steyn scored the winning shot with a boundary over the bowlers head to complete the whitewash for the team.
Player of Series: Imran Tahir
Player of the match: Heinrich Klassen
Zimbabwe’s misery continues but they can take some positives from the series. They triggered South African batting collapse in the second game before Steyn’s heroics saved the game. A better batting show against a quality bowling attack will be another thing which will give him some confidence before moving on to the next series.
