Pretorius powers Proteas into tri-series final

Lhuan-dre Pretorius top scored with 94 as South Africa beat Zimbabwe by 43 runs in Windhoek on Tuesday to reach the final of a Twenty20 tri-series which also includes Namibia.

South Africa won the toss and posted 185-7 at one of the venues for the 2027 ODI Cricket World Cup. Zimbabwe were all out for 142 in 17.2 overs.

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Hosts Namibia meet Zimbabwe on Thursday in the next match, which will decide the other finalists with both teams currently having two points.

Left-hand opener Pretorius fell just short of a maiden T20I century. An attempted flick exposed his wicket and quick bowler Brad Evans uprooted the leg stump.

The 20-year-old South African struck three sixes and 12 fours off 51 deliveries as he bettered his previous T20I top score of 51.

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“I am just glad we won. Milestones can wait. At one stage I thought we would exceed 200 runs,” Pretorius told reporters after receiving the player-of-the-match award.

Captain Sikandar Raza top-scored with 45 for Zimbabwe, who added 76 after slumping to 66-8 with spinner Bjorn Fortuin and quick Duan Jansen sharing the South African bowling honours.

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–AFP

Photo: Floris van Schouwenburg/Gallo Images

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