1st ODI: Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Bulawayo

Ljp86

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1st ODI: Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Bulawayo

This low-key series will be Zimbabwe's only prepreation for the Twenty20 World Cup which is only a few weeks away.

This shapes up to be a one-sided series with Zimbabwe's ongoing problems with the country and its cricket administration hampering any progress they may have had. One postive for the Zimbabweans is the return of Tatenda Taibu to the line-up. Taibu is a world class player and is a welcome boost to the Zimbabwe side after exiling himself from the country due to various differences. Taibu along with Stuart Matsikenyeri, Proper Utseya, Elton Chigumbura and Hamilton Masakadza will have to do the bulk of the handywork if Zimbabwe want to win this game.

South Africa have already stated their eleven with a quite a few of the younger guys getting a chance to prove themselves to the selectors. Vernon Philander's good performances against Ireland haven't gone unnoticed with Johan van der Wath, Albie Morkel and Thandi Tshabalala also taking their place in the side. JP Duminy and Loots Bosman will also play in this game.

Zimbabwe will want to be competitive against the South Africans otherwise their Twenty20 fate could be sealed before we even start the tournament.

Zimbabwe XI (probable): Prosper Utseya*, Sean Williams, Tatenda Taibu+, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Gary Brent, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa.

South Africa XI: Graeme Smith*, Loots Bosman, Jean-Paul Duminy, AB de Villiers+, Herschelle Gibbs, Vernon Philander, Albie Morkel, Shaun Pollock, Johan van der Wath, Makhaya Ntini, Thandi Tshabalala.

Umpires: Steve Davis, TBA
3rd Umpire: TBA

Weather:

(All Temperatures in Degrees Celcius)

Fine and Sunny, 27.


Game starts at 3:30pm AWST (9:30am local time, 7:30am GMT).
 
Re: 1st ODI: Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Bulawayo

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first, out of the 11 LJP listed for South Africa gibbs misses out and Gulam Bodi makes his ODI debut
 
Re: 1st ODI: Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Bulawayo

Game has just started:

Zimbabwe 4/0 after 0.4 Overs
 
Re: 1st ODI: Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Bulawayo

Zimbabwe managed to scrape together a target, all out for 206.

Chigumbura and Brent each scoring 59.
 
Re: 1st ODI: Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Bulawayo

did extremely well by the looks of it.

206 off their 50 overs.

Good partnership between Chigumbura and Brent. both scoring 59

South Africa off to a shaky start: 6/1 off 3 Overs.

Bosman out early.
 
Re: 1st ODI: Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Bulawayo

RSA now 6/179 with 8 overs left. Will get there but a brilliant recovery from Zimbabwe nonetheless. Some uncharacteristic fight shows that there's still a little bit there for them to build from.
 
Re: 1st ODI: Zimbabwe vs South Africa at Bulawayo

Not a bad effort from Zimbabwe in the end, they definitely surprised everyone with this performance.

South Africa won the match by five wickets, making 5/210 from 46.5 overs.

Graeme Smith made 50 opening the innings with debutant Gulam Bodi scoring 51 batting at number three. AB de Villiers scored a solid 63.

The best bowler for Zimbabwe was their captain, Prosper Utseya who took 2/32 from his 10 overs.

Zimbabwe will be relatively happy with that effort. They looked in trouble for quite a while there but their tail managed to pull them out of a rather embarassing situation. South Africa stumbled a little early but they were able to steady and ended up with a comfortable win.

Gary Brent was Man of the Match. I thought AB de Villiers was very stiff not to get the award though.
 
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