South Africa and Zimbabwe had to settle for a point each
Quinton de Kock had South Africa on track for victory in their opening T20 World Cup match before persistent rain in Hobart meant they shared to points with Zimbabwe
Quinton de Kock had South Africa on course for a rapid victory over rivals Zimbabwe in their T20 World Cup Super 12 opener before a third rain delay in Hobart brought a premature end to the contest.
Chasing 80 runs from nine overs for victory in a rain-reduced clash at Bellerive Oval, de Kock had taken South Africa to 0-24 from 1.1 overs when the wet weather (which had delayed the start of the match by almost two hours) returned and forced the players from the field.
The left-handed wicketkeeper-batter had smashed 4, 4, 4, 6, 4 and 1 from Tendai Chatara’s opening over to get the Proteas chase off to a sensational start.
De Kock was 39 off 13 balls and South Africa 0-40 before opening partner Temba Bavuma had even faced a ball.
Following the resumption, South Africa’s target was revised to 64 from seven overs and they got within 13 runs of victory before the rain returned again and put an end to the contest with 24 balls remaining
De Kock finished 47no from 18 balls with eight boundaries and a six, with Bavuma was two not out from two balls as the teams shared the points one apiece with the five overs required to constitute a match not able to be achieved.
Zimbabwe quick Richard Ngarava, who bowled the second over, limped from the field with an ankle injury after slipping in his follow through in the wet conditions as light rain fell throughout the contest.
The Zimbabweans had done well to recover from 4-19 in the fourth over to reach 5-79, with Wessly Madhevere top-scoring with an unbeaten 35 from 18.
He shared a 60-run partnership with Milton Shumba (18 from 20 deliveries) to give his bowlers something to work with after earlier rain ironed out a big chunk of Monday’s night fixture after Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first
South Africa quick Wayne Parnell returned the figures of 1-6 from two overs with Lungi Ngidi (2-20) and Anrich Nortje (1-10) the other wicket takers.
The Proteas were playing their opening match of the tournament, while Zimbabwe were contesting their first-ever Super 12 game after progressing through qualifying last week.
The result leaves South Africa a point behind India and Bangladesh after the opening round with only two countries progressing to the semi-finals.
Both sides play their next matches on Thursday when South Africa take on Bangladesh at the SCG and Zimbabwe travel to Perth to face Pakistan.
