The South Africa ‘A’ team drew first blood and took a one-nil lead in the five-match, T20 series against Zimbabwe XI after beating the hosts by five wickets at Harare Sports Club on Monday.

Glenton Stuurman (3/18) was the chief wicket taker as the visitors reduced the home side to 114 with a ball to spare, after Heinrich Klaasen won the toss and elected to bat first. 

Bjorn Fortuin (2/17) and Gerald Coetzee (2/26) also added a pair of wickets each to the tally, as the hosts crumbled, with no one posting more than Sikandar Raza’s 16 off 15.

The South African reply was fraught with the same challenges as the hosts. Although they reached their target in 17.4 overs, the loss of wickets up front will be something that the team will want to rectify ahead of the second match.

Tristan Stubbs and Khaya Zondo led the chase with 39 and 23 runs respectively, after the losses of Reeza Hendricks (13 off 8 deliveries), Lesiba Ngoepe (12 off 12), Wihan Lubbe (12 off 9) and Klaasen for six up front. They were 55/4 in the 10th over when Stubbs and Zondo took over, adding 59 for the sixth wicket which brought the team to the brink.

The scores were levelled when Zondo lost his wicket, trying to end the match in style. Stubbs finished the match with Jason Smith (0*) with 14 deliveries to spare.

Match two will take place at the same venue on Wednesday (4 May).