By Wesley Botton.
South Africa closed out their campaign in the T20 International tri-series in Windhoek by coasting to a commanding 48-run victory over Zimbabwe in the final on Sunday.
Set a target of 206 runs to win, Zimbabwe never really got going as their specialist batters crumbled under pressure.
While they found themselves in serious trouble at 81/8 in the 12th over, all-rounder Brad Evans and tail-ender Kundai Matigimu combined in a 52-run stand for the ninth wicket.
But Matigimu was removed in the 17th over, after making 19 runs off 11 balls, and their fight for what was essentially a losing cause came to an end.
Evans remained unbeaten, hitting 56 not off 31 deliveries – his first T20 half-century at any level of the game in the short format – but his efforts proved futile as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 157 in the 18th over of their innings.
Proteas captain Bjorn Fortuin was the best of their bowlers, taking 3/24, and speedster Duan Jansen continued to shine on his first international tour, grabbing 3/38, while rookie Eathan Bosch took 2/22 to play a key role by putting Zimbabwe’s top order under pressure.
Earlier, with in-form batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius missing out on the match due to a groin injury, Connor Esterhuizen and Jordan Hermann opened the batting, and they got the Proteas off to a solid start.
The duo shared 84 runs for the first wicket before Newman Nyamhuri had Esterhuizen caught by Ben Curran at cover in the eighth over after Esterhuizen had smashed 32 runs off 23 deliveries.
Two overs later Hermann was caught by Ryan Burl, with the long-on fielder running wide to his left, off a Brad Evans delivery. Hermann hit 53 off 29 for his maiden T20 International half-century.
After Esterhuizen and Hermann were dismissed, most of the Proteas top-order and middle-order batters delivered, with Dewald Brevis (32), Rubin Hermann (27) and Jansen (23 not out) all making valuable contributions as they reached 205/5 from their 20 overs.
South Africa will now face Namibia in a three-match ODI series starting on Wednesday.