da bet7k： A stubborn seventh-wicket stand between Ervine and Masakadza only delayed the inevitable
da bwin： Himanshu Agrawal01-Jul-2025The first ball of the day set the tone. Corbin Bosch wished Zimbabwe good morning by cramping Nick Welch with a sharp short delivery, which he ended up fending to short leg. That left Bosch on a hat-trick after he had had Takudzwanashe Kaitano caught at third slip off what had turned out to be the last ball of the third day. Sean Williams avoided the hat-trick, but soon after, a collapse of 4 for 18 left little scope for Zimbabwe to take the game deep after South Africa had set them 537 to win. The visitors won by 328 runs soon after lunch.From 82 for 6, Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine and Wellington Masakadza doubled the total in a fighting seventh-wicket partnership of 83. South Africa’s frustration lasted for just over an hour, as a superb diving catch by Tony de Zorzi – again at short leg – helped Bosch break the stand. Ervine departed on 49 to give Bosch his fourth wicket, and with that, ended South Africa’s irritation.Bosch bagged his maiden Test five-for, when, four overs later, he had Vincent Masekesa chopping on. That added to the milestone of scoring his first Test hundred with the bat on the first day, and made Bosch the fifth South African to achieve that double in a Test. Eventually, his and Wiaan Mulder’s all-round heroics, coupled with debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius’ 153 on day one, confined Zimbabwe to their heaviest Test defeat in terms of runs.But apart from that union between Ervine and Masakadza, Zimbabwe provided brief spells of entertainment on the fourth day. Although Williams arrived to bat in a tricky situation, he didn’t hesitate in attacking the bowlers. He had four boundaries off his first eight balls, and fell for 26 off 18 balls when, in the 25th over, he ended up top-edging a short ball from Bosch to Kyle Verreynne.Codi Yusuf replaced Bosch in the 28th over, and had Prince Masvaure caught at second slip for 12. Yusuf’s fun continued when Wessly Madhevere nicked to Verreynne in the 30th over, and Tafadzwa Tsiga found fourth slip in the 32nd. But Ervine and Masakadza blunted all that with a flurry of boundaries.Ervine had already swept, reverse swept and chipped Keshav Maharaj for boundaries, and Masakadza didn’t shy away from playing his shots either. When on 10, Mulder had Masakadza dropped by Verreynne, and the life Masakadza got helped the stand grow. The partnership passed fifty in the 33rd over when Ervine reverse swept Maharaj past slip, as the left-arm spinner looked short of ideas both as bowler and captain.After lunch, when Masakadza punched Bosch for four past gully to raise his maiden Test fifty – his previous highest Test score was 17 – there seemed to be no end to South Africa’s misery. But when Bosch had Ervine caught by de Zorzi, that started another collapse. Masekesa and Masakadza followed, but there was more annoyance in store for South Africa.Blessing Muzarabani, Zimbabwe’s No. 10, went 4, 4, 6 off part-time legspinner Dewald Brevis in the 64th over, and then smashed a six and four each off Maharaj in the 66th. Finally, two overs later, Brevis had his first Test wicket when Tanaka Chivanga chipped down the pitch and missed a ball outside leg, and was stumped. South Africa now have a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
