Sometimes you just have to poke fun at the misfortune of others. A result from today’s matches in the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers:
Bermuda 13 (18 overs; Mienzer 1, Jackson 1, R Smith 1, Loubser 6/3); South Africa 15/0 (0.4 overs; Anderson 4, “Extras” 10). South Africa win by 10 wickets.
That’s right, South Africa win after just 4 legal deliveries; Bermuda managed just 3 runs off the bat, with 8 players scoring zero. I think we can safely say that Zimbabwe won’t be the worst team in this tournament…
ICC - Loubser Stars as South Africa coast to Victory
Archive for the 'South Africa' Category
Don’t have full details for all the matches, sadly, but the four-day series ended 2-0 in CSACA’s favour, with the one-day series ending tied 1-1. Result from the one-dayers in Bulawayo:
1st One-Day Match
Zimbabwe A 216/6 (50 overs; Nyamuzinga 58, Camphor 2/26)
CSACA 152 (47.5 overs; Bhayat 33, Cremer 2/20)
Zimbabwe A win by 64 runs. (Match report)
2nd One-Day Match
Zimbabwe A 181 (Chakabva 33, Serame 5/25)
CSACA 184/6 (Akojee 60, Dabengwa 3/26)
CSACA win by 4 wickets. (Match report)
Zimbabwe lost again and handed South Africa a clean sweep of the series, but for perhaps the first time since the current team came together, it wasn’t for lack of trying. South Africa’s total owed a lot to 107 from de Villiers and 97 by Morkel, as the lower order struggled uncharacteristically against Zimbabwe - but by then the hard work had been done and the Proteas’ total of 323 looked well beyond Zim’s ability to chase. Chase it they did, though, led by Tatenda Taibu’s maiden ODI hundred (ending on 107 not out), with Sibanda, Masakadza and Taylor also making useful contributions. The Zim run rate didn’t quite match the required rate, though, leaving the home side short at the end of their innings, but on this occasion they can be proud of their efforts. The series may have ended 3-0 in South Africa’s favour, but just for once Zimbabwe looked competitive - given their recent record against SA, that’s an achievement in itself.
South Africa 323/9 (50 overs; de Villers 107, Brent 3/58), Zimbabwe 295/7 (Taibu 107*, van der Wath 2/50). South Africa win by 28 runs, win series 3-0.
Since I’m writing this & the 3rd ODI up a week after the event, I’m not going to go into a huge amount of detail here - I’m sure most of you will have read the match bulletins elsewhere. Zimbabwe’s batsmen finally turned up to the party in this match, with Taylor, Taibu, Williams and Matsikenyeri all making welcome contributions - although Sibanda and (to a lesser extent) Masakadza were both disappointing. The bowling attack unfortunately gave South Africa few problems, allowing Gibbs to claim a century with Smith falling just short on 96, and the Proteas reaching their target with 10 overs and 8 wickets to spare. Not an embarrasment, but not exactly the ideal result either. Full scorecard below the cut, as usual.
Zimbabwe 247/7 (50 overs; Williams 54, Steyn 3/65), South Africa 251/2 (39.1 overs; Gibbs 111, Williams 1/10). South Africa win by 8 wickets, win series 2-0 with 1 to play.
…figuratively speaking, of course. After two Zimbabwe Select series where, one match excepted you wonder why the home team bothered to turn up, the 1st ODI against South Africa was actually a reasonable contest. Once again Zimbabwe’s batsmen let them down, but when defending a comparatively small total they looked keen and made South Africa work for their win. Given recent form, who could ask for more?
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat, but as ever things didn’t go according to plan. Opener Vusi Sibanda started well enough, but sloppy batting and some poor running decisions left Zim struggling on 72/7 at one point and looking in danger of failing to make 100. The arrival of Elton Chigumbura and Gary Brent marked the beginning of Zim’s comeback, though, as the pair put on 115 for the 8th wicket - beginning with some cautious nudging for judicious 1s and 2s, before beginning to open up as their confidence built. Chigumbura has always been capable with the bat, given the mindset and opportunity, and this match was the first in a while where he really showed what he was capable of. Chigumbura was eventually run out for 59 (187/8), while Brent hung around to claim his first ODI 50, ending the innings on 59 not out and helping Zim to a moderately-respectable 206.
South Africa’s reply got off to a very poor start when Loots Bosman was dismissed for a duck on the 4th ball of the innings, but that was a bit of a false dawn for Zim as Graeme Smith and Gulam Bodi set about chasing down their target of 207. To their credit, Zimbabwe were energetic in the field and some decent bowling made sure that South Africa were never able to really open up - they scored at or around the required rate for most of the innings - and regular wickets made sure that Zimbabwe at least remained in the chase. A few dropped catches proved decisive, though, and come the final overs, with wickets still in hand, South Africa were able to finish off the job. Bodi claimed a 50 on his ODI debut, while Gary Brent was impressive with the ball, outdoing Prosper Utseya in the parsimony stakes, conceding 3.11/over.
In short: good bowling, but Zim need to work on wicket-taking ability, and their batting is still very suspect. Overall, though, not the disgrace many were expecting. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 206 (50 overs; Chigumbura 59, Brent 59*, Philander 2/15), South Africa 210/5 (46.5 overs; de Villiers 63, Utseya 2/32). South Africa win by 5 wickets, lead series 1-0 with 2 to play.
The South African squad for South Africa’s 3-ODI tour of Zim is:
Graeme Smith (Captain), Gulam Bodi, Loots Bosman, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Albie Morkel, Mornè Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath
Very sketchy details on this one on ZC’s website, so place a question mark over the details. End result is okay, though. zimcricket.org has match reports from the four days of the match:
Day One | Day Two | Day Three | Day Four
Zimbabwe ‘A’ 279 (Chibhabha 98) & 196 (Chakabva 32), CSA Cricket Academy 410 (Akoojee 149, Garwe 3/61) & 66/2 (Gray 42). CSACA win by 8 wickets, lead series 1-0 with 1 to play.
The South African invasion continues - the CSA Cricket Academy are in Zim at the moment for a series of matches against Zimbabwe ‘A’. The first 4-day match ended on Saturday with an 8-wicket win for the visitors (more when I can dig up the details) - the remaining matches in the tour are:
20 Aug 2007 Zim U19 v CSACA 1-day Match Harare SC 23-26 Aug 2007 Zim A v CSACA 2nd 4-day Match Queen's SC, Bulawayo 28 Aug 2007 Zim A v CSACA 1st 1-day Match Queen's SC, Bulawayo 29 Aug 2007 Zim A v CSACA 2nd 1-day Match Queen's SC, Bulawayo
After following on a falling apart - again - it seems Zimbabwe would have needed another 2 innings just to get to a score where South Africa ‘A’ would have needed to bat again. Paul Harris, with 9 wickets over Zim’s two innings, was the main cause of Zimbabwe’s failure, but Zim did themselves no favours with a typically poor batting display. Tatenda Taibu’s 2nd-innings 41 was the highest score the home team managed, with no other knocks that even looked promising. After being at least half-way competitive in the first match, this performance will be a(nother) huge disappointment. How much more will it take for ZC to realise that something needs to be done?
South Africa A 542/7 decl (Dippenaar 189, Masakadza 1/54), Zimbabwe Select 155 (Utseya 32, Harris 5/67) & 168 (Taibu 41, Harris 4/77). South Africa A win by an innings and 219 runs, win series 2-0. Full scorecard below the cut.
Continue reading ‘Another Day, Another Disaster as SA A Clean Up’
South Africa A 542/7 decl (Dippenaar 189, Masakadza 1/54), Zimbabwe Select 36/3 (Masakadza 15, Harris 2/5)
Some reports of Day Two make much of the off-field catering problems at Queen’s Sports Club (uncooked chicken, anyone?), but on-field problems were of more concern for Zimbabwe, as their 3-spinner bowling attack was comprehensively ripped to shreds. Boeta Dippenaar and Hasim Amla managed a partnership of 256 before Amla finally departed for 142, while Dippenaar continued to 189. The remaining SA batsmen didn’t fare quite so well, but still inflicted some damage before Dippenaar finally declared, with around a hour’s play left in the day and the score on 542/7.
In reply, Zimbabwe did what they so often do and collapsed - Taylor caught for 2, Sibanda LBW for 4, Masakadza caught for 15, and at close of play Zim were left at a woeful 36/3. Heroics required on day three if the match is even to be considered a contest, but the odds of that don’t look good.