SA avoid unlikely hiding, reach triseries final

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

SA did not need to beat Zimbabwe in Harare on Thursday to reach Saturday’s final against Australia; all they had to do was avoid losing by a cartoonly large margin. But they won anyway.

“We will have to perform better in all three departments against the Aussies,” AB de Villiers said afterwards, although he felt “our batting was close to perfect”.

Truth be told, any 11 members of the crowd would have stood a fair chance against a home side who performed more like extras from a zombie movie than an international cricket team.

So, SA will not be smug about ending Zimbabwe’s reply of 208 in 47.2 overs to their total of 271/6 - which earned victory by 63 runs.

But Faf du Plessis deserves a smile of self-satisfaction having scored his third century in four innings. Du Plessis’ 121 on Thursday was cast from the same mould that guided him to efforts of 126 and 106, both against Australia, in the previous eight days.

He batted with poise and purpose on a pitch that spun square, and was always in control not just of his own innings but of the game unfolding around him.

JP Duminy will be chuffed to have snapped a streak of 11 innings without a half-century. His 51 was part of a stand of 103 shared with Du Plessis.

Rilee Rossouw, too, will be happy with his day’s work. More like relieved, in fact. Not only did he score 36 to take the edge off his golden ducks in his first two innings at this level, his obviously occasional off-spin claimed a wicket.

Better yet, Rossouw added to the co-incidences between his and Sachin Tendulkar’s one-day career. Not only was the Indian maestro also done for a duck in his first two one-dayers, like Rossouw he scored 36 in his third innings. And, also like Rossouw, he did so off 39 balls.

But Rossouw will hope the strange similarities end there: it took Tendulkar 76 trips to the crease to score his first century in the format.

Having been run out trying to take a single to the wicketkeeper against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on August 19, De Villiers went one weirder on Thursday when Du Plessis drove uppishly back to bowler John Nyumbu - who dropped the catch but in the process inadvertently deflected the ball onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end in the process with De Villiers out of his ground.

And that was the extent of the fun on Thursday. After Zimbabwe put SA in to bat, the only relevance left in the match was whether the home side would chase down whatever target they were set in no more than 25.2 overs.

That was the tall order facing Elton Chigumbura’s team if they were to reach Saturday’s final: they needed to win as well as fix their broken net runrate.

But, after 25.2 overs, Zimbabwe were 101/4, or 171 runs shy. From that moment, the game was over even though it was not.

Not only did the match devolve into Rossouw being tossed the ball - he had previously bowled just 42 balls in his senior career, all of them in his 72 first-class matches - but De Villiers himself turned his arm over with some distinctly ordinary medium pace.

“I was like a little kid with his toys there,” De Villiers said of his two overs, which featured a six, four wides and not a lot else.

That was the real news: finally, something AB de Villiers cannot do on a cricket ground.