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Paul Munyuki Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE could not produce the fairy tale ending that their fans badly wanted as Faf du Plessis’ third century of the series squeezed life out of the hosts who lost by 63 runs in the final group game of this ODI triangular at Harare Sports Club yesterday. After the drama of their sensational win over Australia, which pushed them into the headlines of the back pages of newspapers around the world, the Zimbabweans were hoping for another upset to squeeze their way into the final of this triangular tournament.

Australia’s win over South Africa made this a tough task to achieve but as long as it was possible there was hope and scores of their fans came to Harare Sports Club yesterday expecting another giant-killing act.

But the brilliant Du Plessis made sure this was never going to happen, after another brilliant hundred, and Zimbabwe failed in their chase of 271-6, coming short by 63 runs, but this tie was as good as over after the Proteas’ innings.
South Africa will now meet Australia in the final tomorrow.

The pre-tournament money would have been on a final between the Aussies and the Proteas but Steve Mangongo and his men know that they had chances to gatecrash their way into the final and blew those opportunities.

Having lost three of their four group games, they will look back at this tournament with mixed emotions given that they blew away a golden chance to beat South Africa, in their first meeting, which would have dramatically changed the landscape and given them a good chance of playing in tomorrow’s final.

The host spinners did a very good job, throughout the triangular playing against quality opposition, and it’s something that Mangongo will consider a plus going into the long tour against Bangladesh.

But the batting didn’t always come to the party, and that’s an area for concern, and on all occasions they struggled just to get past the 200-run mark.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, though, will take away the magic of their sensational win over Australia, who were ranked world number one then, and it’s a result that reunited the team with its merry band of fans.

Mangongo knows that save for the first game, when they were blown away by the Aussies, they competed well against the best teams in the world and, had key batsmen come to the party when they needed them, they would have been full value for a win against the Proteas in their first encounter.

Of course, it’s all over now for them but, in the past two weeks, cricket has found a way to revive its romantic attachment with its fans and it’s something that the game’s leadership should use to rebuild this great sporting discipline.

Even the sponsors started to come back.
A new sponsor, Pure Oil, came on board for a partnership with Zimbabwe Cricket through their ZimGold cooking oil brand.
Ankit  Jain, director of PureOil, said they will also chip in with a US 1 000 sponsorship for the best Zimbabwean cricketer of the series with the presentation set for tomorrow after the Australia /South Africa final.

They also presented the team with cooking oil after their defeat to South Africa yesterday.
Looking at all those good crowds, the happy faces that cheered every run scored by the Zimbabweans, the racial harmony among their fans and how they were all proud of their country and sporting ambassadors, were sights to behold.

And, as they were transmitted around the world via television, they sent powerful messages of the tranquillity that exists in this country.

Yesterday, the Zimbabweans won the toss and put South Africa in to bat first and the tourists were 271-6 in their allotted 50 overs with Du Plessis the main character with his hundred.

The hosts needed to chase down that target in 25.1 overs, for them to make the final, and it was always going to be a virtually impossible task on a track where batting wasn’t an easy thing to do.

To their credit, the Zimbabweans came out firing, hoping to make it a contest, but it always meant that they would lose wickets.
“It was not possible to chase down that target in 25 overs so we were just playing to make sure we won the game against South Africa,” said Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura.

Brendan Taylor’s 79 (off 96 with five fours and two sixes) provided the rock on which the Zimbabweans built their response but many batsmen had starts but failed to convert them into big scores.