South Africa strolled past Zimbabwe in the second T20I by six-wicket to seal the three-match series 2-0 in Potchefstroom on Friday. The Proteas chased down a modest 132 runs in just 15.4 overs–which just goes to show the dominance they’ve had over their African neighbours.
It was the bowlers who made the job easier for the batsmen to follow after they continued to make inroads into the Zimbabwean batting line-up as the latter hardly could show any resistance. Dane Paterson provided the breakthrough in just the second over of the match, knocking over Solomon Mire’s off-stump through a length ball. Skipper Hamilton Masakadza hit a couple of glorious sixes and hit as many fours but eventually fell to Robbie Frylinck, who capitalised on the pressure that was created with the increasing amount of dot balls. Just two runs later, Frylinck was in the mix of action again and this time, he had Tarisai Musakanda caught behind as once again, the Zimbabwe batters found it hard to counter the pace of the South African bowlers.
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But it was Sean Williams who is mainly responsible for the decent total that Zimbabwe posted as the left-hander mustered 41 crucial runs off just 28 balls with three big hits and two fours to give the batting innings some sort of momentum–which it had been lacking right from the very beginning. A 14-run cameo at the end by Tendai Chisoro helped the struggling innings reach a decent total.
Despite losing HE van der Dussen in the fourth over, the South Africans never really looked in trouble and despite having had three knocked down for just 58 runs on the board, they never really looked to be in any trouble. It was a patient 33 from 26 balls from the bat of JP Duminy that took the Proteas home with 26 balls still remaining.
Brief score: South Africa 135/4 (Duminy 33*, de Kock 26; Williams 2/25) beat Zimbabwe 132/7 (Williams 41, Frylinck 2/20, Paterson 2/22)
Image credit- The Indian Express