Andile Simelane’s century and Mihlali Mpongwana’s half-century helped South Africa Emerging to a 4-wicket win against Zimbabwe Emerging and secure a series victory.
South Africa won the toss and bowled first. It wasn’t the same level of bowling performance as we saw in the first ODI, with Codi Yusuf coming in for Dian Forrester as Tristan Luus’ opening partner.
Zimbabwe managed to post a solid innings total of 310-9, largely thanks to Nick Welch (54), Emmanuel Bawa (45), Antum Naqvi (85), Takudzwanashe Kaitano (32) and Alistair Frost (25) scoring the bulk of the runs in the middle overs.
A late charge from Faraz Akram (24 off 12 balls) gave Zim that extra push over the 300-run mark.
The South African bowlers struggled to to keep things economical as they searched for wickets, but credit must be given to SA’s two best bowlers Jade de Klerk (3-45) and Luus (2-45).
South Africa’s chase saw players rally around Andile Simelane who scored a brilliant 110 off 70 balls. He came to the crease early after the wicket of Modiri Litheko (4) in the 2nd over.
He strung together a key partnership, 117 with Lesego Senokwane (39), to take SA to 126-2 before the latter lost his wicket. Simelane stuck around till 26th over, but lost his wicket shortly after reaching his century, reducing SA to 198-4.
Andile Mokgakane (45) guided SA to 249 before he lost his wicket at the end of the 35th over.
After being reduced to 279-6 on the last ball of the 41st over, it was up to SA captain Mihlali Mpongwana to try to take his side over the line.
All Mpongwana (51) managed to bring up his half-century, but it was Luus’ 18 off 15 balls that was the most impressive in the final stages as South Africa sealed a 4-wicket win with 27 balls remaining.
This sealed a series win for SA, as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
