Chevrons hit new low in SA ODI Lungi Ngidi took three for 19 as South Africa beat Zimbabwe in the first ODI encounter in Kimberley, South Africa yesterday.

Mehluli Sibanda in Kimberly, SA
South Africa 119/5 (Klaasen 44, Markram 27, Chatara 2/12) beat Zimbabwe 119 (Chigumbura 27, Masakadza 25, Ngidi 3/19, Phehlukwayo 2/22) by five wickets

SOUTH Africa took a one-nil up in the one-day international cricket series following a five-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the opening match yesterday.

Former captain Elton Chigumbura top scored for the Chevrons with 27, followed by skipper Hamilton Masakadza with 25, as Zimbabwe were bundled out for 117 in 34.1 overs.

It was the lowest total by Zimbabwe in ODIs against South Africa on South African soil, beating the 119 they posted at Centurion in November 2009.

Heinrich Klaasen top scored for the Proteas with a run a ball 44, as the home team reached its target with 143 balls to spare.

Masakadza blamed the defeat to them failing to put up a challenging total for the Proteas. Following his bowlers’ five-wicket haul, Masakadza felt a score of around 180 runs could have been enough to overcome the home team.

“Obviously not a good start to the series; we wanted to start well, but we didn’t quite manage to do that. Just that we didn’t put enough runs on the board and the wicket played a little bit differently than what we had expected, but even after having adjusted we still didn’t bat long enough. We needed at least another 50 to 60 runs to really make a game of it,” Masakadza said.

Zimbabwe struggled from the onset after losing the toss sent in to bat, with the South African opening bowling pair of man-of-the-match Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada keeping things tight.

Ngidi picked up three wickets for 19 runs off 8.1 overs with one maiden, while there were two wickets each for Rabada, Andile Phehlukwayo and Imran Tahir.

In South Africa’s run chase, Dean Elgar was the first to depart after being snared by Tendai Chatara when he tried to go for a huge shot and was caught at deep by Peter Moor.

Left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza struck with the third ball of his first over, uprooting local boy Reeza Hendricks’ leg stump.

Chatara could have taken his second wicket when he had Aiden Markram caught on 27 only for the dismissal to be reversed as the seamer had overstepped. However, the bowler had the last laugh as he had Markram caught at mid off by Chigumbura without adding any more runs.

Brandon Mavuta took a wicket with his third delivery in ODI cricket when he had fellow debutant Christiaan Jonker caught by Sean Williams. Mavuta made up for dropping the batsman off Kyle Jarvis’ bowling in the previous over.

Klaasen lined up Wellington Masakadza for two huge sixes in row as he looked to get to his half century in style, but the bowler had the last say when he had him taken at deep by Craig Ervine.

It was Zimbabwe’s last celebration in the match as skipper Jean-Paul Duminy and Wiaan Mulder saw the South Africans over the line.
Masakadza was impressed by how his bowlers came out firing in a bid to defend such a low total.

Chatara took two wickets for 12 runs in six overs, while Wellington Masakadza took the same number of wickets at the cost of 26 runs.

“The guys showed a bit of character coming in to defend 118. They bowled really well, especially upfront and guys really came out firing, said the skipper.

The series now moves to the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein for the second ODI on Wednesday before ending at Boland Park in Paarl on Saturday. — @Mdawini­_29

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