The Proteas secured their place in the final of the Tri-Series currently taking place in Harare with a comfortable seven wicket win against the hosts on Sunday, 20 July despite having one more game left to play in the round robin stage of the tournament. Their second win of the tournament also ensured that hosts Zimbabwe were knocked out.
Hermann – player of the match
Rubin Hermann, one of the four new players alongside Corbin Bosch, Lhuan-dré Pretorius and Senuran Muthusamy to be called up for this series has justified his selection with standout performances.
He followed up his 45 in the first game with a man of the match performance against Zimbabwe, making 63 off 36 balls (3x4’s, 4x6’s) to help the Proteas chase 145 in 17.2 overs.
Hermann – we were more ruthless in the batting department.
Speaking at the post match press conference, Hermann said that the difference was in the batting department where the Proteas were more ruthless.
I think probably the difference lied in err, I think we were more ruthless in the batting department with bad balls. We were good at running two’s as well so I think err the batsman ship was good from our part because we ran a lot of two’s within our boundaries as well so that’s probably where the difference lies, we were a bit more ruthless in the way we score maybe.
Hermann – looking forward to playing more games for South Africa
I think the margins get smaller and smaller and smaller now the higher you go. It’s just basically the ruthlessness of how you score. I think skill wise, your skills have become more refined the more you play at the level so I’m looking forward to hopefully getting more games and deserving more games for my country.
T20 series start of prep for T20 World Cup
The tri-series was coach Shukri Conrad’s first T20I assignment since being appointed as the senior men’s all-format head coach. While several senior players have been rested for the tournament, Conrad added young blood to the squad to give them an opportunity to show what they can offer and bring them into contention for World Cup selection.
Squad - T20I Tri-series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand
Rassie van der Dussen (captain, DP World Lions), Corbin Bosch (Momentum Multiply Titans), Dewald Brevis (Momentum Multiply Titans), Nandre Burger (World Sports Betting Western Province), Gerald Coetzee (Momentum Multiply Titans), Reeza Hendricks (DP World Lions), Rubin Hermann (North- West Dragons), George Linde (World Sports Betting Western Province), Kwena Maphaka (DP World Lions), Senuran Muthusamy (Dafabet Warriors), Lungi Ngidi (Momentum Multiply Titans), Nqaba Peter (DP World Lions), Lhuan-dré Pretorius (Momentum Multiply Titans) and Andile Simelane (Hollywoodbets Dolphins).
Fixtures
- Saturday, 26 July – Final: South Africa vs New Zealand – Harare Sports Club
