Zeenews Sports Bureau
Harare: An unbeaten 118-run partnership between Brendan Taylor (59* from 41) and Hamilton Masakadza (58* from 50) powered Zimbabwe to 9-wicket win over South Africa at the tri-series final at Harare Sports Club.
Chasing 146 to win, both the batsmen hit some excellent shots in their well composed innings which made the Proteas look like a mediocre side.
Amla won the toss and chose to bat first and suffered a major jolt as Richard Levi was dismissed off the first ball of the innings. Amla too departed in the third over after which wickets fell at regular intervals and it was Faf du Plessis (66 from 57) who helped his side reached a respectable score.
Maskadza and Taylor played like true champions and they clobbered Peterson for 21 runs in the sixth over of the innings which probably reflected their intent.
Taylor was adjudged as the Man of the Match whereas Maskadza was declared as the Man of the Series for his consistent good run.
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, the 2012 Zimbabwe Twenty20 Triangular Series should be an eye opener for the Proteas who were defeated twice by Zimbabwe and once by Bangladesh.
First Published: Monday, June 25, 2012, 01:55