Sunday, February 13, 2011

South Africa spinner Imran Tahir made an impression side beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets in their World Cup warm-up



South Africa Pakistan-born spinner Imran Tahir made an impression with a three-wicket haul as the Graeme Smith-led side beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets in their World Cup warm-up match at the M A Chidambaram stadium on Saturday.
Zimbabwe was bowled out for a paltry 152 in 41.5 overs. In its chase South Africa was well served by Hashim Amla (45) and Graeme Smith (41). In the end Jacques Kallis remained unbeaten on 49 as South Africa won by eight wickets in 23.3 overs.
Earlier, after opting to bat, Zimbabwe batsmen, barring opener Brendan Taylor (40) and lower middle order Sean Williams (35), failed to apply themselves to the task and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
South African attack was not extraordinary but their bowlers maintained decent line and length and waited for the rivals to make mistakes.
Captain Graeme Smith used as many as eight bowlers, including Tahir, rotating them in short spells. Key all-rounder Jacques Kallis, recovering from a rib injury, was on the field for sometime, though he did not bowl as earlier indicated by Smith.
Fast bowler Morne Morkel (3 for 16) and Tahir (3 for 35) were the chief wicket-takers for South Africa.
Taylor, who looked positive from the start, added 49 runs from 59 balls in 42 minutes for the first wicket with Charles Coventry (21) before the latter holed out to Tahir at mid-on scooping the ball from Morkel.
Morkel struck again in the very next ball sending back Tatenda Taibu who was caught by Smith in the first slip in the 10th over.
Then it was the turn of Robin Peterson to deal another double blow when he dismissed Greg Lamb (11) and captain Elton Chigumbura (0) in the 19th over.
Trying to cut a ball, Lamb only managed an edge to wicketkeeper AB de Villiers. Chigumbura was trapped plumb in the front going for a back-foot defensive shot.
The fall of quick wickets arrested the flow of runs and soon Taylor too fell - caught by de Villiers off the bowling of Tahir, who has been billed as the secret weapon of South Africa.
Williams resurrected the Zimbabwean innings adding 46 runs for the seventh wicket with Regis Chakabva. He showed grit in attacking Tahir early on with two successive boundaries.
But once the pair was broken, it became a procession of Zimbabwean batsmen.
The side lost four wickets in the space of five overs for the addition of just 11 runs, disappointing the good crowd that had thronged the stadium despite it being a friendly match.
Tahir, on whom Smith had good words on his abilities, lived up to the captain's expectations maintaining a steady line and length.

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