ZIMBABWE pace duo Richard Ngarava and Trevor Gwandu reminded everyone of the strong player manufacturing mortar at Takashinga Cricket Club, their parent club, after putting on a good display with the ball in the opening match of the T20I Tri-Series against South Africa at Harare Sports Club on Monday.

The left-arm seamer Ngarava, returning to the team after sitting out the two-match Test series against the same opposition in Bulawayo, showed hunger and grit. Ngarava bowled with sheer accuracy, speed, and precision, ending the match as Zimbabwe’s most successful bowler with three wickets for 35 runs from his four-over spell. He made an immediate impact with a caught-and-bowled dismissal of South Africa opener and T20I debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius off the first ball of the visitors’ chase, sending the appreciative crowd into a frenzy. South Africa were 0/1, and Zimbabwe dared to believe.

Ngarava struck again in his succeeding over, this time clean-bowling Reeza Hendricks for 11 on the third ball of his second over. South Africa were reeling at 17/2. Enter Gwandu, who after 5.4 overs, South Africa were reduced to 38/3 with the right-arm pacer getting the Proteas skipper Rassie van der Dussen out, caught by Ryan Burl. Gwandu was back again in the 12th over, claiming the wicket of Dewald Brevis (41), caught by Brian Bennett, leaving South Africa at 110/4. Ngarava grabbed his third wicket, bowling out top scorer Rubin Hermann for 45, but South Africa had recovered, needing only 12 runs from 29 balls.

It was a good fight for the Takashinga duo leading the fight for Zimbabwe. The only undoing was that the batsmen DID not put enough runs on the board. With an additional 20-odd runs added to the 141 Zimbabwe total after being asked to bat first, it could have been a different story altogether. Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza top-scored with an unbeaten 54 runs from 38 balls, while Bennett and Burl scored 30 and 29 runs, respectively. For South Africa, George Linde took three wickets for 10 runs in three overs, and they went on to win the match by five wickets with 25 balls remaining, reaching 142/5.