Joe's Sports Wrap #6

After a wonderful season of Rugby I decided to turn my attentions to Cricket in this column looking at South Africa’s first One Day International against Zimbabwe in Benoni.

Zimbabwe certainly struggled in their last series against Bangladesh losing 4-1 while the Proteas are only starting another busy International season where England will be the main attraction over the next couple of months.

The visitors won the toss and surprisingly asked South Africa to bat first.

Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla set a solid foundation of 67 inside 14 overs before the skipper departed for 35.

Wickets were difficult to come by as Amla and AB De Villiers continued the onslaught steering the hosts to 157 before De Villiers was sent back to the hut for another classy 51.

I was extremely happy to see Amla grab his chance at the top of the order. A lot of you will argue that his 80 came against a Zimbabwe attack lacking real venom but you still have to score the runs.

There was also a quick fire 50 by Albie Morkel while Alviro Petersen contributed 39 as the Proteas settled for 295/5 from their 50 overs…

All South African supporters and probably most of the neutrals believed that South Africa’s strike force spearheaded by Dale Steyn would make light work of the Zim batting order and for the first 16 overs it certainly looked to be the case as Zimbabwe were left reeling on 48/5.

The fightback arrived in the form of Tatenda Taibu and Stuart Matsikenyeri who set a new 6th wicket record of 188 to take the fight back to the Proteas.

Matsikenyeri was finally dismissed for a well played 86 while Taibu remained unbeaten on 103 as Zimbabwe finished on 250/6 from their 50 overs falling only 45 runs short of victory.

Ryan Mclaren shone with ball in hand finishing with figures of 3/51 while Dale Steyn bagged 2 and Lonwabo Tsotsobe 1.

This match was probably just the wake up call needed ahead of the England series and one can only hope that the Proteas will take complete charge of the second match on Tuesday.

Until then!

Regards

Johan

South Africa v Zimbabwe Played at Willowmoore Park, Benoni, on 08 Nov 2009
Zimbabwe innings

Batting R B 4s 6s
MA Vermeulen c HM Amla b Tsotsobe 8 18 0 0
CJ Chibhabha lbw b McLaren 21 30 3 0
H Masakadza c Boucher b Steyn 11 38 0 0
BRM Taylor c Boucher b McLaren 2 6 0 0
T Taibu not out 103 112 6 3
E Chigumbura b Steyn 4 4 1 0
S Matsikenyeri b McLaren 86 87 8 1
AG Cremer not out 1 5 0 0
P Utseya <>
RW Price <>
CB Mpofu <>
Extras (b 1, lb 5, w 8) 14
Total (6 wickets; 50 overs) 250
Fall of wickets
1-11 (Vermeulen, 5.1 ov); 2-35 (Chibhabha, 11.3 ov); 3-40 (Taylor, 13.5 ov); 4-44 (Masakadza, 16.2 ov); 5-48 (Chigumbura, 16.6 ov); 6-236 (Matsikenyeri, 47.6 ov)
Result: South Africa won by 45 runs
South Africa 295/5
Zimbabwe 250/6
MOM: T Taibu
Toss: Zimbabwe elected to field
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena, Rudi Koertzen
Third-umpire: Johanes Cloete
Referee: Javagal Srinath
Bowling O M R W
Steyn 10 0 51 2
Tsotsobe 8 0 41 1
Langeveldt 8 0 33 0
McLaren 10 0 51 3
Botha 10 1 41 0
JA Morkel 4 0 27 0

South Africa innings

Batting R B 4s 6s
Hashim Amla c Vermeulen b Cremer 80 96 6 0
Graeme Smith c Mpofu b Price 35 39 6 1
AB de Villiers c Vermeulen b Price 51 51 5 1
Mark Boucher c Vermeulen b Price 18 34 1 0
Alviro Petersen c Cremer b Chibhabha 39 36 4 0
Albie Morkel not out 50 39 3 3
R McLaren not out 6 5 1 0
Johan Botha <>
Dale Steyn <>
LL Tsotsobe <>
Charl Langeveldt <>
Extras (lb 3, w 13) 16
Total (5 wickets; 50 overs) 295
Bowling O M R W
Mpofu 10 0 70 0
Chibhabha 9 0 64 1
Price 10 0 44 3
Utseya 10 0 59 0
Cremer 10 0 47 1
Matsikenyeri 1 0 8 0
Fall of wickets
1-67 (Smith, 13.3 ov); 2-157 (de Villiers, 28.3 ov); 3-185 (HM Amla, 35.1 ov); 4-202 (Boucher, 38.2 ov); 5-288 (Petersen, 48.6 ov)