Not so long ago, a "contest" between the two teams of southern Africa would have been a no-contest: Jacques Kallis, of all people, would have broken the record of fastest Test fifty and Mark Boucher would have blasted a 44-ball ton. With all due respect to the South Africans and their hard, no-quarter-given brand of cricket, Zimbabwe was, in 2004 and 2005, suffering from politics, discontent and turmoil, and would have been the easiest of pickings before a series against England.
However, Zimbabwe have improved rapidly in 2009 and shown that they may be down but are certainly not out in the first of two one-day matches against the Proteas at Benoni. It would have been ludicrous to expect them to challenge South Africa's towering target of 296, but they earned an honourable defeat, with wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu particularly impressive to score an unbeaten century.
The efforts of Taibu, and his partner Stuart Matsikenyeri, who rattled off a run-a-ball 86, did partially cover up the ineptitude of their top-order against South Africa's pace attack. Mark Vermeulen, Elton Chigumbura and Hamilton Masakadza have serious potential with their attacking batting, but a lack of truly competitive cricket was exposed when all three were softened up and clinically dismissed to account for three of the five wickets that fell for just 48 runs in the first seventeen overs. Not to take anything away from South Africa's fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe, or for that matter debuting allrounder Ryan McLaren, whose return of 3 for 51 included two wickets in his first two overs.
That set the stage for Taibu and Matsikenyeri; with no real chance of snaring South Africa's imposing total, they opted to frustrate the fielders with an extended net session, playing themselves carefully in before launching an entertaining counterattack against the tiring seamers. The first 100 came at a crawling 3.3 an over; but the batting powerplay that followed saw Taibu and Matsikenyeri open their shoulders.
Taibu clubbed Tsotsobe into the embankment over the leg side for six, and then pulled him square for four, before celebrating his fifty with a top-edged hook for six off Charl Langeveldt. Johan Botha, whose first eight overs had conceded just 20, was drubbed for three fours in his ninth by Matsikenyeri, who then bashed Steyn back over his head and blazed McLaren over cover for six. With both batsmen racing past 80, McLaren finally located an in-swinging yorker off his last delivery to bowl Matsikenyeri and end a 188-run stand. That didn't stop Taibu, however, from flicking the wayward Albie Morkel over square leg and reaching his century in the final over of a dead match.
South Africa's 45-run win had been set up with a strong batting performance centring around Hashim Amla's easily composed 80. Amla, who played the straight man to skipper Graeme Smith's early fireworks, then added 90 at a trot alongside AB de Villiers. Smith had dealt mostly in boundaries--six fours and a six en route to 35--but Amla chose to dispatch really poor deliveries, and was content to keep the strike rotating.
De Villiers kept him good company in a cantering 90-run stand, cutting and carving past cover early on in a racy, run-a-ball 51. He brought up the fifty-partnership with a lovely straight loft for six, and it took a superb catch at long-off from Vermeulen to dismiss him, and stifle the momentum, if only briefly. Pinch-hitter Boucher--sent probably with the intentions of boosting the total towards a potential 330--struggled to get going, and saw Amla hole out in the thirty-sixth over (185 for 3).
Boucher then holed out--Vermeulen taking his third catch in the deep--but with the promising Alviro Petersen and the big-hitting Morkel in the wings, that was as good as it got for Zimbabwe. The dam burst in the forty-fifth over, which started with two crisp Petersen fours and ended with a massive Morkel six. Morkel, into his stride, heaved two more sixes, and by the time Petersen fell for a swift 39, the pair had added 86 in 64 balls. Morkel finished on a violent, 39-ball 50, and 69 runs had come off the last six overs. The resistance of Taibu and Matsikenyeri, however, ensured that the hosts were kept on their toes.
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