ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, Super 12, Group 2, Zimbabwe v South Africa: Quinton de Kock's 47, Lungi Ngidi's 2-20 and Wessly Madhevere's 35 are top performances. South Africa, Zimbabwe share one point each in rain interrupted game.
Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 79/5 (9/9 ov) (Madhevere 35*, Ngidi 2/20) against South Africa 51/0 (3/7 ov, Target 64) (De Kock 47*, Raza 0/11), game called off due to rain
South Africa who are one of the favourites to lift the trophy in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, locked horns with confident looking Zimbabwe who in their best year of international cricket made their way to the Super 12 stage with two victories in the first round. The third Group 2 game of this round of the World Cup was held at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
In their six previous meetings, South Africa earned victories in all the five games while the other one was abandoned due to rain.
Positives for South Africa as Quinton de Kock looked in great touch
South Africa going into this T20 World Cup are being considered as one of the favourites to lift the trophy given how well they have performed in last few T20I series and they began their campaign in the same fashion. Even on a rainy day with a wet ball, the Proteas bowlers managed to bowl in the right lengths and channels.
In the batting order, Quinton de Kock just snatched all the attention with his wild knock of 47* (18) which will provide him enough confidence going deep into the tournament but South Africa will look back at their luck with rain in World Cup history.
Unlucky South Africa robbed of two vital points due to persistent rain
Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine on winning the toss opted to bat first on a track which he expected to get quicker as the game would progress. South Africa left out Reeza Hendricks, Tabraiz Shamsi, Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen from the squad for this game while Zimbabwe went with the same eleven from their last game.
Due to persistent rain for about two and half hours, the game was reduced to a nine over per side affair.
Zimbabwe in this short game began to struggle from the very first over as they found themselves limping at 19/4 in four overs. But a 60-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Milton Shumba and Wessly Madhevere who smashed an unbeaten 35 runs in 18 balls fired Zimbabwe to 79/5 in their nine overs.
South Africa went off to a pacy start thanks to Quinton de Kock who just took the Zimbabwe bowlers like toys and made his way to an 18-ball 47* as South Africa reached 51/0 in three overs when rain made another appearance. With the rain getting heavier and not much time left in the game, the umpires were forced to call the game off as South Africa felt robbed of well-deserved two points.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between Zimbabwe and South Africa from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Wessly Madhevere’s 18-ball 35* stunned South Africa
In the shortened game, Zimbabwe in an attempt to score quick runs seemed to be losing their track from the beginning being at 14/3 in three overs when Wessly Madhevere strolled into the middle at number five.
Madhevere from the start looked to take the bowlers on as he pulled Wayne Parnell low over the mid-wicket region for his first boundary before getting forward to drive Lungi Ngidi between cover and mid-off for another boundary. He got some support from Milton Shumba from the other end as Madhevere hammered Kagiso Rabada to clear deep mid-wicket for the first six.
Two balls later, he slashed Rabada over the head of leaping wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock before reaching out to a slow off-cutter to cut it over backward point region for another boundary. Madhevere stitched up a 60-run rescue partnership with Milton Shumba to take Zimbabwe to 79/5 in nine overs.
Madhevere who remained unbeaten on 35 in 18 balls with the help of four boundaries and one solitary six now has 879 T20I runs in 40 games.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Gr B, ZIM v SCO: Zimbabwe qualify for Super 12 stage after beating Scotland
Ngidi-Parnell bowling partnership kept Zimbabwe on the backfoot
To keep any side under pressure specially in a short game, taking wickets becomes the primary job and South Africa from the very first over kept Zimbabwe on the backfoot.
Wayne Parnell who has been in great touch since making his return picked up the wicket of opponent captain Craig Ervine on 2 who backed away to whack Parnell only to see Ngidi take an easy catch at mid-on.
In the very next over, Lungi Ngidi changed the course of the game with two wickets, one of which was Zimbabwe’s rescue man Sikandar Raza. Ngidi first sent back Regis Chakabva on 8 who feathered an edge behind to the keeper before Raza nicked a short ball as Quinton de Kock grabbed a fabulous jumping catch behind the wicket.
Parnell who now has 53 T20I wickets in 49 games returned figures of 1/6 in two overs, while Ngidi who ended with 2/20 in two overs now has 53 T20I wickets in 33 games.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Group B, ZIM v IRE: Raza's 82, Muzarabani's 3-15 help Zimbabwe to 31-run win
De Kock muscled his way to 47* but failed to beat the rain
With the danger of rain looming around, South Africa needed to score at a very quick rate to squeeze up two points and none other than Quinton de Kock could set the tone for them.
De Kock clubbed the very first three balls of the second innings for three back-to-back boundaries; the first one was smashed over the leaping short-fine leg fielder while the second and third one were muscled in the deep square leg and fine-leg region. On the fourth ball, he went one step ahead to swing his willow to blast the ball over mid-wicket for a maximum before pulling another boundary in the deep mid-wicket region.
With 23 runs, South Africa now have scored most runs in the first over of a T20 World Cup match. After a brief rain break which resulted in a revised DLS target of 64 runs in 7 overs for South Africa, Quinton again collected three back-to-back boundaries; the first one was pumped into the extra cover region, while the second and other one were drilled in the square leg region before he finished the over with another boundary in the backward point.
When rain again affected proceedings, de Kock who remained on unbeaten 47 in 18 balls with eight boundaries and one six wasn’t able to take South Africa to a victory. He now has 2079 T20I runs in 73 games.
Read More: ICC World T20 2022: Aggressive batters, in form bowlers make South Africa the team to beat in WC
ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Group 2 Points Table
Points Table Scenario and What’s to Come
South Africa will now face Bangladesh at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney on October 27, while on the same day Zimbabwe will meet Pakistan at the Perth Stadium in Perth.
With points being shared between South Africa and Zimbabwe, Pakistan will be the happier side as they didn’t want one of these sides to get those two points and run away from them.
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