Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza emphasised that there were numerous positives to draw from his team’s five-wicket defeat to South Africa in the opening T20 International at Harare Sports Club today.
While the result went against them, Raza believes the team showcased significant improvements in various aspects of their game in the match, which is part of a tri-series also involving New Zealand.
Raza and fellow star Richard Ngarava made strong returns to the national side, delivering impressive performances with bat and ball respectively.
Their efforts, however, weren’t enough to secure a winning start for Zimbabwe as South Africa chased down the target with 25 balls to spare.
Both players had been absent from the recent Test series against South Africa in Bulawayo, with Raza on global club commitments and Ngarava recovering from injury.
Speaking to journalists after the match, Raza elaborated on the positives he observed.
“I think the good thing is that we have ticked a lot of boxes today,” he said. “Our Powerplay bowling has been good. Our seamers that came outside the Powerplay were brilliant. Our finishing, the last 5 overs was great. Over number 11 to 20, I think we ended up scoring 100 for what, two? So that is good.
While acknowledging areas for improvement, particularly between overs 7 and 10 of their innings, Raza pointed out that the team was neck and neck with South Africa for a significant portion of the game.
“If you take one over out of the game as well, we were neck to neck up until 11 overs anyway,” he noted, suggesting that a slightly higher scoring rate in those middle overs could have led to a more competitive total of around 165, which he considered “not a bad total if you are batting first.”
Raza himself led from the front, remaining unbeaten on 54 runs off 38 balls, including three boundaries and two sixes, as Zimbabwe posted a total of 141/6 after a slow start.
Brian Bennett contributed 30 off 28 deliveries, and Ryan Burl added 29 from 20 balls.
For South Africa, George Linde was the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets for just 10 runs.
In their defence, Zimbabwe got off to a perfect start with Ngarava dismissing South African T20I debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius on the very first ball.
Ngarava continued his impressive spell, claiming two more wickets to finish with figures of three wickets for 35 runs.
Trevor Gwandu also chipped in with two wickets for 15 runs. Despite these efforts, South Africa comfortably reached the target, with Corbin Bosch’s unbeaten 23 off 15 balls guiding them home.
South Africa now hold the series lead and are set to face New Zealand on Wednesday in the second match of the series.
