Namibia T20I Tri 2026, SA vs ZIM 2nd Match Match Report, August 29, 2026

South Africa 146 for 3 (Brevis 75*, Evans 1-19) beat Zimbabwe 144 for 8 (Bennett 34, Marumani 30, Jansen 3-45, Subrayen 2-27) by seven wickets

Dewald Brevis‘ second rating of 75 in as many innings proved profitable as South Africa bought their first factors on the board within the Namibia T20I tri-series, this time in opposition to Zimbabwe. South Africa have been set a goal that was precisely the identical variety of runs they managed to attain within the opener in opposition to Namibia – which they lost by 18 runs – and Zimbabwe proved no match for them.

South Africa made gentle work of the overall, and polished it off inside 14 overs, as Richard Ngarava’s absence confirmed and none of their bowlers was in a position to put a lid on Brevis. Wessly Madhevere and Sikandar Raza bowled 4 overs for 34 runs between them however virtually everybody else conceded at 9 to the over or extra with, Graeme Cremer the costliest. He got here again into the facet for the primary time for the reason that T20 World Cup and bowled two overs which value 32 runs.

Ultimately, Zimbabwe’s bowlers might solely work with the overall their batters set and can replicate on that as being the place the match was misplaced. Zimbabwe squandered a robust begin and slipped from 76 for 1 after 10 overs to 144 for 8. They scored solely 68 runs and misplaced seven wickets within the second half of their innings as South Africa deployed each spin and seam to strangling impact. Solely Duan Jansen conceded at greater than 6.75 runs an over, as his 4 overs value 45 runs however he picked up extra wickets than anybody else: three.

South Africa now be a part of Namibia on two factors with Zimbabwe winless from their solely recreation thus far. Sunday is a relaxation day within the sequence with Namibia scheduled to tackle Zimbabwe on Monday.

With Brian Bennett as a gap batting companion, Ben Curran is normally content material himself with watching the onslaught however right this moment, it was flip to take centerstage. After Bennett hit the primary boundary – a scoop off Eathan Bosch – Curran plundered14 runs off three Duan Jansen deliveries together with the ramp, the swat over midwicket and the straight six over the bowler’s head. He stayed forward of Bennett within the early levels and was on 24 off 11 balls, with Bennett 20 off 19, earlier than he tried to clear mid-on however was caught by a leaping Tony de Zorzi.

Spinners, then seamers pull it again

Very similar to Namibia within the tri-series opener, Zimbabwe have been pulled again from a robust begin, however their regression was extra dramatic. Whereas Namibia misplaced 9 wickets for 79 runs after being 84 for 1 within the tenth over, Zimbabwe have been 74 for 1 after 9 overs and solely added 20 runs within the subsequent 6.1 overs and misplaced 4 wickets within the course of. Offspinner Prenelan Subrayen put the brakes on them. Then, Dion Myers hit a Bjorn Fortuin half-tracker straight to Bosch at deep midwicket and conceded simply three runs within the eleventh over. Bennett needed to do one thing to speed up the trigger and charged Subrayen however succeeded solely in yorking himself.

The spinners then made approach for Bosch and Kwena Maphaka, who took tempo off nicely to make scoring troublesome. Sikandar Raza tried to smash Bosch by way of the covers and was caught by a leaping Jordan Hermann and Ryan Burl was bowled by Subrayen to depart Zimbabwe 94 for five within the sixteenth over and in want of a giant end. A sixth-wicket stand of 43 off 23 balls between Wessly Madhevere and Tadiwanashe Marumani gave them some impetus however Zimbabwe have been unable to succeed in even 145.

After exhibiting off the no-look six throughout his 75 within the opening match, Brevis determined to admire his personal handiwork this time and stored his eyes on the ball for every of the primary three sixes they hit. He introduced his arrival on the crease by hitting Newman Nyamhuri, who had simply dismissed Hermann, over long-off for six. After utilizing his wrists to take three fours off Blessing Muzarabani’s second over and ending the powerplay on 19 off 9 balls, Brevis greeted Graeme Cremer with a six over long-on. He peeped because the ball cleared the stadium and needed to be retrieved within the car parking zone. It got here again, solely to vanish over Cremer’s head for an additional six. If that wasn’t sufficient, Brevis swatted Zimbabwe captain Raza over midwicket for his fourth six and was on 40 off simply 15 balls. He reached his half-century with one other six off Cremer, off the twenty fourth ball he confronted and added one other six within the over for good measure. However he did not look the ultimate time.

Tony de Zorzi falls cheaply once more

It’s kind of too early within the season for concern to crop up however there’s certain to be some dialogue about Tony de Zorzi, who has scored 9 and 15 within the sequence thus far. It is not simply that de Zorzi has been dismissed with out crossing 20 however that he has scored at lower than a run a ball in each matches and each occasions bought out making an attempt to play a giant shot. On this match, with no strain on him or the group, de Zorzi went after a brief, huge ball from Blessing Muzarabani however solely bought it so far as Madhevere at high-quality leg. De Zorzi has solely performed 9 T20Is for South Africa and remains to be discovering his ft on this format. Fortunately for him, with Jason Smith out injured and no different batters within the squad, he’s prone to play in all South Africa’s fixtures and has the chance to enhance because the sequence goes on.

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