South Africa beat Zimbabwe by 4 wickets to seal series 3-0 

On the back of an all-round effort, the hosts South Africa defeated Zimbabwe by 4 wickets in the third One day international played at Boland Park, Paarl on Saturday. Despite good contributions from Sean Williams, Brendon Taylor, South Africa bowled out Zimbabwe for a modest total and then chased it down with ease.

Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza won the toss and decided to bat first. Like the first two games, South Africa struck early twice dismissing Solomon Mire and Ervine cheaply. The skipper remained positive but the score was just 42/2 at end of 10 overs. Rabada dismissed him not too long afterwards for 27.

Taylor and Williams steadied the innings with some attacking stroke play. The latter got his half-century off 60 balls and the duo added 73 runs for the 4th wicket before Rabada got the big wicket of Williams.

Donald Tiripano(29) and Mavuta(18) added 28 runs for the 8th wicket before the South Africa innings wrapped up the innings. South Africa bowled out Zimbabwe for 228 in 49.3 overs. Sean Williams was the top scorer for Zimbabwe with 69. Dale Steyn and Rabada picked 3 wickets each while Imran Tahir and Phehluwakyo picked 2 wickets each.

Chasing the target of 229 runs to win, South African openers Aiden Markram and Reeza Hendricks got the hosts off to a flying start putting on 64 runs in first 10 overs. Sean Williams broke through dismissing Markram for 42 but not before 75 runs were added for the opening wicket in 12.3 overs.

Captain Faf du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks added 42 runs for the 2nd wicket but the visitors then got rid of Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy in quick succession to put pressure on South African batsmen. Hendricks reached his half-century off 63 balls before being dismissed for 66. Heinrich Klassen played with positive intent and added 66 runs for the 5th wicket. Klassen reached his maiden ODI half-century off 60 balls before the Proteas won the match by 4 wickets with 25 balls to spare.

Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 228 in 49.3 overs (Sean Williams 69, Brendan Taylor 40; Dale Steyn 3-29, Kagiso Rabada 3-32) lost to South Africa 231/6 in 45.5 overs (Reeza Hendricks 66, Heinrich Klaasen 59; Donald Tiripano 2-35, Kyle Jarvis 1-40) by 4 wickets.