The Proteas made heavy weather of beating Zimbabwe on Sunday. Whether it was the dodgy Benoni pitch (it seemed to get slower and slower), the rain that interrupted the Zimbabwe innings, or just ring rustiness on the part of the Proteas was unclear. But the Proteas were not very convincing.
For all the talk of getting 300 against the weakest team in world ODI cricket, the Proteas battled to reach that mark. Only a bit of big hitting from Albie Morkel took them close. Hats off to left-arm spinner Ray Price, nephew of golfer Nick, for bowling a good line and restricting the free scoring Proteas batsmen. His reward was the prized wickets of Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher. Nice trophies to take back to Harare.
Even Chris Mpofu and Chimu Chibhabha were difficult to get away when they occasionally landed the ball in the right spot.
Then the Zimbos showed some admirable resolve when it was their chance to bat. None was better than Taitendu Taibu, who made an unbeaten 103. He and Price will feel well pleased with their performances, even though the team were beaten by 45 runs.
The Zimbos will feel much encouraged going into the second ODI on Tuesday at Centurion.

Related posts:

1. Poor Zimbos
2. Zimbabwe at the end
3. Proteas ‘top players’ are safe
4. Plodding Proteas killing Test cricket
5. Bosman back to open