T20I tri-series in Namibia – Lawan star Dre Pretorius in South Africa’s easy win over Zimbabwe
For the second time in three days, South Africa have completely outclassed Zimbabwe in the ongoing T20I tri-series, taking 43 runs wins In Windhoek on Tuesday (September 1).
Buoyed by Lhuan-dre Pretorius’ career-best 94, they scored 185/7, but the innings trailed off slightly with a flurry of wickets towards the end. In a powerful stroke down the leg side, Pretorius first combined with Jordan Herrmann to get off to a flying start. They raced to 68/0 after the first seven overs.
Using plenty of whips and clips on the leg side, strikes made possible by his unique swing, Pretorius warmed up by attacking newcomer Kundai Mategemo. Since then, he has continued to pick a boundary almost every time: his first six came in the ninth over, clearing a square-leg boundary off Wellington Masakadza. By the next day, he had reached 50, and South Africa looked set to reach a total of 200+.
In the 58th minute, Zimbabwe had a chance, but a misjudgment from a short third player resulted in the ball being lost.
As the innings progressed, Pretorius became smarter in his shot selection. Whatever ball was not in his hitting zone towards the leg side, he cleverly flicked it past point, using quick pace and angle to good effect. Dewald Brevis played in good company: against Matigimu, he hit six consecutive no-look overs and continued to use the crease well against spinners. He fell in the 16th over trying to repeat a six from Brad Evans.
The rest of the batting collapsed as they tried to consolidate the scoring at the other end. They started at 154/1, losing six wickets for 31.
Zimbabwe’s response was initially positive. Ben Curran struck a couple of knocks in opener Kwena Mafaka, while Brian Bennett conceded Brennellan Sub’rain with a six. But Curran’s attempt to confront the same player led to his departure. Innocent Kaia continued the attack: by third place, they were well placed at 33/1. But then it went downhill.
Björn Fortuyn, bringing himself into the attack, took out Bennett and Wesley Madhevir via three balls, the first a brilliant one-handed volley from Pretorius. This first wicket meant Zimbabwe could only reach 43/4 by the end of the Powerplay, with Duan Jansen playing Kaia’s role.
Janssen then tore them apart further, picking out Ryan Burle and Tadiwanashi Marumane from successive balls. Mafaka then picked up another in the ninth over to leave them struggling at 54/7. Sikandar Raza then made a single, as Nqabayomzi chased down Peter with a series of strikes. Six of Reza’s batsmen escaped from the Windhoek grounds, and the photographer did a good job of capturing him lying on the barren ground outside the building.
After taking 22 runs from Peter’s second over, Reza continued to look to attack the shorter boundary but eventually faltered on Fortuyn’s attempt to repeat a six in the 14th over. No.11 Newman Nyamhuri did well to push them to nearly 150 runs with an entertaining knock, helped along by some sub-par play. But it was too little, too late.
Abbreviated degrees: South Africa 185/7 in 20 overs (Lhuandre Pretorius 94, Dewald Brevis 41; Wessley Madhevere 3-20, Brad Evans 2-33) beat Zimbabwe 142/10 in 17.4 overs 3-21) by 43 runs.
