Cricket-South Africa beat Zimbabwe by 43 runs in T20 tri-series

South African opener ​Lhuan-dre Pretorius powered his ​side to a ‌comfortable 43-run ​victory over Zimbabwe on Tuesday in the fourth match of the Twenty20 ‌tri-series also involving hosts Namibia. Pretorius came close to a maiden T20 international century, scoring 94 as South Africa elected to ‌bat first and scored 185-7 at the Namibia Cricket ‌Ground.

Zimbabwe were bowled out for 142 in reply with captain Sikandar Raza top-scoring with 45 and pace bowler Duan Jansen taking 3-21. Pretorius ⁠hit ​15 boundaries in ⁠his 51-ball innings before being bowled in the penultimate over. He ⁠and Dewald Brevis, who scored 41, added 86 runs for the ​second-wicket partnership.

Zimbabwe quickly had their backs to the wall, ⁠teetering on 66-8 in the 10th over before the last two ⁠partnerships ​gave their scorecard respectability. They were dismissed after 17.4 overs. Zimbabwe take on Namibia on Thursday, followed by ⁠Namibia against South Africa in the last of the round-robin matches. ⁠The ⁠two teams with the most points after four matches each will contest Sunday’s final.

(Writing by ‌Mark ‌Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing ​by Ed Osmond)