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South Africa manage to post 257 against Zimbabwe in 2nd ODI

Zimbabwe need 258 runs to win this match and square this three match series.

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Prosper Utseya picked up the all important wickets of JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis on Tuesday at Bulawayo © Getty Images
Prosper Utseya (above) picked up the all important wickets of JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis on Tuesday at Bulawayo © Getty Images

 

By Rajarshi Majumdar

Aug 19, 2014

Zimbabwe put up a spirited bowling performance to bowl South Africa out for 257 in the second One-Day International (ODI) at Bulawayo on Tuesday. After a crushing defeat in the first ODI against South Africa, Zimbabwe looked determined to win and square the three match series. But they should have remembered that they are climbing a huge mountain. South Africa were off to a flier with Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock scoring at brisk pace. But they lost both the openers in a span of three overs.

Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura tried a lot of things initially but nothing was working for him. Then he decided to introduce spin from both of the side. John Nyumbu picked up Hashim Amla in his very first over. He tried to play a sweep but ended up dragging the ball into the stumps. Before he got out, both he and de Kock were looking dangerous. In another over or two, de Kock tried to loft one over the covers but skipper Chigumbura took a brilliant catch to dismiss de Kock.

The grass always looks greener on the other side. South African may have thought that someone will play an innings like Amla played in the first ODI. But unfortunately, all the South African batsmen fell very cheaply. Ab de Villiers got out in a way that no could have expected. He came down the track, the ball hit his pad and he thought that the ball went passed the keeper down the leg side but the ball ended up stopping in front of the keeper’s leg and he was run out. Players like De Villiers are expected to deliver. But most of the South African batsmen were way too casual in their approach and thus gave away their wickets at regular intervals.

The pick of the batsmen was Faf du Plessis. He placed his innings beautifully. He could have scored a lot more but he ran out of partners to steer the innings till the end. He could only score 55 runs from 72 balls as he had to keep the scoreboard ticking. JP Duminy also looked good but he too fell way too cheaply. Duminy was cleaned up by Prosper Utseya for only 36 runs. David Miller also scored a quick fire 45 with two sixes to his name but fell short of what could have been a brilliant half century. Towards the end of the innings Wayne Parnell and Kyle Abbott scored a few important runs which helped the Proteas to go past 250.

For a moment no one would have thought that this would happen, but it did happen. South Africa were bowled out before 50 overs and they only managed to put up a total of 257 runs, courtesy Zimbabwean bowlers. John Nyumbu, Prosper Utseya and Sean Williams picked up 2 wickets each and all three of them were economical. The Zimbabwean bowlers gave nothing away and kept the South African batsmen relatively quiet throughout the innings. Zimbabwe now have a real chance to win this match and level the three match series.

Brief Scores:

South Africa 257  in 49.4 overs (Faf du Plessis 55, David Miller 45; Prosper Utseya 2 for 39, Sean Williams 2 for 37) vs Zimbabwe.

Full Scorecard

Complete coverage of South Africa tour of Zimbabwe here

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