South Africa humble Zimbabwe in 1st Test, equal their longest winning streak as Pretorius, Bosch shine
Zimbabwe had their moments, especially on the first day, having South Africa 23/3 and then 55/4 but Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Corbin Bosch with quickfire tons in the first innings, took the match too far away from the hosts.
South Africa equalled their all-time longest winning streak of nine Test matches as they humbled their neighbours, Zimbabwe, in the opening game of the two-match series in Bulawayo. Since the second Test against the West Indies last year, the Proteas are yet to lose a Test match and the nine-match run includes a World Test Championship match-winning final against Australia. Apart from the quality of the cricket played by the Proteas, the magnificent dash can also be attributed to the depth in the change room as far as first-class cricket is concerned, for the Test champions.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius smashing a blitzy 153 on debut, Dewald Brevis also making an attacking fifty in just his first game, Bosch doing a Jacques Kallis in just his second Test, Wiaan Mulder coming good at No 3 with a century in just his second opportunity at the new position, Codi Yusuf impressing one and all with his control – all signs of a healthy team in red-ball cricket. And Zimbabwe will be kicking themselves for letting this game slip this far and deep after having the tourists three down for 23 early in the piece.
The recovery, followed by the domination
The first recovery for South Africa came through with a 95-run partnership between the two debutants, off just 86 deliveries. The tide had started to turn in the other direction. While Pretorius raced to a magnificent century, it was the Corbin Bosch knock, that completely flicked the switch in South Africa’s favour. Bosch took South Africa’s score beyond 400, which would have been a challenge for any side.
Sean Williams’ ton kept Zimbabwe in the hunt but how much would he have done alone? Like South Africa had 3-4 guys chipping in, Zimbabwe also needed a couple of more players to score big to get close to the opposition’s score. Zimbabwe needed to bowl South Africa out cheaply, but Wiaan Mulder, with his second Test hundred, took the game away from the hosts decisively as Zimbabwe were set their biggest-ever target to chase of 537 runs.
Since South Africa were on the attack, Zimbabwe did get a few wickets but not as quickly as they would have liked. Zimbabwe were reduced to 6/82 in the fourth innings as it was a car-crash of a chase before Wellington Masakadza and Blessing Muzarabani provided a bit of respectability to the total with some late-order runs.
Bosch became only the fourth South Africa cricketer to score a century and register a fifer in the same Test match while Pretorius walked away with the Player of the Match award for his audacious knock on debut as the visitors took a 1-0 lead.
