Proteas survive Utseya burst to claim bonus point win

Prosper Utseya became the second player to take a hat trick for Zimbabwe to spark one of South Africa's most remarkable batting collapses but the Castle Lager Proteas still managed to win with a bonus point in the third match of the ODI Triangular Series at Harare on Friday.

The Proteas eventually won by 61 runs to take top spot on the log with nine points and virtually assure their place in next Saturday's Final. With all sides having played two matches Australia are second on the log with five points while Zimbabwe have yet to get off the mark. The home side also have a very negative run rate and they would have to win both their remaining matches with a bonus point to overtake the Proteas.

Australia now top the ICC ODI rankings ahead of the Proteas by a decimal point and next Tuesday's match between the two of them could be a decider to see who tops the rankings by the end of the tournament. India, who are playing in a parallel tournament against England, could also affect the picture.

Zimbabwe won the toss and took what has become the norm decision to bowl first. It was certainly justified as the spinners took advantage of the moisture in the pitch to pose considerable problems. Utseya proved to be a particular handful for the left-handers and all three his hat trick victims - Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw and David Miller - were left-handers. His final victim was JP Duminy as he took the first five wickets to fall to finish with the first fifer of his career (5/36 from his 10 overs).

For good measure he took his five wickets in the space of 22 balls to halt a superb opening partnership of 142 for the first wicket between stand-in captain, Hashim Amla (66 off 80 balls, 5 fours and a six), and the ever reliable De Kock (76 off 76 balls, 7 fours and a six).

Then disaster struck the visitors with the two other spinners, John Nyumbu (3/42 in 10) and Sean Williams (0/37 in 10) also posing a lot of problems.

In the end it took an invaluable 10th wicket partnership of 36 between Aaron Phangiso and Imran Tahir to get the total past 200 after nine wickets had fallen for 53 runs and to make it reasonably defendable. Imran's 23 not out was the fourth highest contribution to the total of 231 before the Proteas were bowled out in the final over.

The Zimbabwe batsmen were again their side's worst enemies as they failed to put a substantial partnership together and crumbled against the well balanced South African attack. Dale Steyn and Ryan McLaren finished with three wickets each while Phangiso claimed two important scalps by bowling both Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor.

Williams, as has been the case for most of the series, was the leading contributor with the bat (46 off 57 balls, 3 fours and a six). AB de Villiers (viral infection) and Morne Morkel (shoulder injury) both missed the match which created further opportunities for Rossouw and Kyle Abbott while Phangiso played ahead of Wayne Parnell in a third change.

(Cricket South Africa)