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Mehluli Sibanda , in East London, South Africa
PETER Moor says the way Zimbabwe played in their 34-run defeat by South Africa in the first Twenty20 International cricket match at Buffalo Park in East London showed that the Proteas can be beaten.

The Chevrons folded for 126 in 17.2 overs after restricting South Africa to a modest 160. Moor top scored with a career best 44 off 21, with the right hander thumping one four and an incredible five sixes.

His eighth-wicket partnership of 53 with Brandon Mavuta, who scored 28, was the best for the Chevrons on the night. Moor believes that they sent a message that they can beat the Proteas.

“I think as a team it sends a message that we can perform. If we can bat a little bit longer, like Hamilton has been saying, do the right things for a little bit longer, we can beat South Africa. Despite losing by quite a big margin I think we gained a lot from it,” Moor said.

Zimbabwe’s run chase was dented by losing three wickets inside the first four overs, with the Chevrons unable to recover from that start.
Veterans Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams did show some flashes of brilliance, but did not hang around long enough.

Moor said it is always a tough task to recover from conceding three early wickets.

“Whenever you lose three wickets in the power play, it’s tough to come back from that. Despite that I think there was a stage when South Africa were a little bit on the edge there so I think that sent a message. Our batters know that if we can start well, there is no reason why we can’t win it, especially in a T20 match,” he said.

Moor was disappointed not to see the team over the line, but at the same time took a lot of confidence from his personal performance on the night.

“Very disappointed, I think there was a stage when me and Brandon were batting and we thought we could get over the line so obviously not to finish the game was disappointing, but personally I took a lot of confidence from that innings; it’s something that I really needed.”

His batting display certainly made up for the disappointing display with the willow in hand in the ODIs.

“I always like to be positive when I bat; obviously during the ODI series I often went in at a time it wasn’t ideal for me to just go out there and be positive. Even today it wasn’t really ideal to begin with, I just thought to myself I know where my strengths are, I need to back myself and I think I’ve gained a lot from today,” said Moor.

Zimbabwe will hope they can build on Moor and Mavuta’s fearless batting displays when they clash in the second T20I at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom tomorrow. If the top order can just click, Zimbabwe have a great chance of levelling the series ahead of the final match in Benoni on Sunday. – @Mdawini_29