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FAF DU PLESSIS scored his third century in his last four ODI innings to bag the Man of the Match award and lead the Castle Lager Proteas to a comfortable 63-runs victory over Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on Thursday and a date with Australia in Saturday’s Final of the Triangular Series.
With all three sides having completed their league programme of four fixtures each the Proteas finished top of the final log with three victories out of four matches. Australia managed two victories and Zimbabwe one.
The Proteas, after being sent into bat, put their two recent disappointing batting performances behind them as they comfortably batted through their full 50 overs. They had two minor setbacks up front at 26/2 and 120/4 but Du Plessis and JP Duminy then shared a fifth wicket stand of 103 and the final total of 271/6 looked more than competitive on a pitch that again provided considerable assistance to the spinners.
The pair paced their respective innings superbly with the result that the Proteas were able to score 70 runs in the last six overs after a conservative batting power play that produced only 27 runs but importantly did not see the fall of any wickets.
For the second time during his tour to Zimbabwe AB de Villiers was the victim of an unusual run out, this time when John Nyumbu failed to take a return catch offered by Du Plessis with the ball deflecting on to the non-striker’s wicket. De Villiers was clearly not meant to score runs against Zimbabwe on this particular tour!
The pitch was probably the driest one used throughout the series with the result that the surface continued to assist the spinners in the second half of the match instead of flattening out.
Aaron Phangiso continued to enhance his reputation with another outstanding effort (1/38 in 10 overs) while Duminy completed an excellent all-round match (3/35 in 8.2). Phangiso has been the most economical spin bowler in the tournament to date.
The match did produce the statistical anomaly of Rilee Rossouw capturing his first ODI wicket – the good one of Zimbabwean captain, Elton Chigumbura – having never before bowled in 50 overs cricket, even at franchise level.
De Villiers gave himself two overs as well but was not able to replicate Rossouw’s achievement.
The Zimbabwean innings was a continuation of what has been going on through the series with their senior batsmen unable to put together major partnerships. Brendan Taylor (79 off 96 balls, 5 fours and 2 sixes) finally found form but he was left to fight a lone battle and, once the Proteas got into the tail, there was no chance of his pressing on for what would have been a well-deserved century.
Du Plessis’ century was the 14th by one of South Africa’s top four batsmen in their last 13 ODIs against India, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Australia and is the most significant statistic they will take forward into their build-up towards the World Cup next year.
Broadcast details for Saturday’s Final (play starts at 9.30am)
Live coverage on SuperSport 2, Channel 202HD
Ball-by-ball radio commentary on 2000FM
Follow @officialCSA on Twitter and www.facebook.com/cricketsouthafrica for live updates.
