Khaya Zondo’s incredible 117 couldn’t prevent South Africa A from losing by 32 runs to Australia A in Bengaluru.
Zondo was last man out, run out trying to farm the strike, as his side ended on 290 all out after 48.4 overs. Chasing a mammoth target of 322, Gihahn Cloete and Sarel Erwee got the innings off to a fine start, adding 89 for the first wicket before Erwee fell for a run-a-ball 37. Cloete was bowled by Australia A skipper Travis Head for 50 off 49 balls, before Zondo concluded an incredible captain’s innings of 117 off 104 balls (four fours, seven sixes, S/R 112.50). Robbie Frylinck offered his captain excellent support down the order, scoring 30 off 41 balls.
Mitchell Swepson took 3-37 (econ 4.11), while Ashton Agar was incredibly economical, returning figures of 8.1-0-27-1 (econ 3.30).
Earlier, Head’s excellent innings came off 117 balls, with 13 fours and a six (S/R 94.01) before he was bowled by Beuran Hendricks at the end of the 47th over.
Usman Khawaja was run out for 10 at the top of the innings, after which D’Arcy Short and Head added 83 for the second wicket before Short fell one short of his fifty, trapped leg before by Shaun von Berg.
South African-born Marnus Labuschagne scored 65 off 67 balls in a 136-run stand with Head, followed by Matt Renshaw with 42 off 29 balls to lift Australia A to 322-5 off their 50 overs as they looked to get off the bottom of the table in the rain-ravaged tournament.
Zondo (0-41, econ 5.12), Dwaine Pretorius (0-36, econ 4.50) and Frylinck (0-45, econ 5.62) bowled tidily, while Sisanda Magala picked up two wickets for 59 runs.
In the other match, India A were bowled out for 217 in 49 overs by India B. The A team relied on Ambati Rayudu’s 48 off 75 balls (two fours, three sixes) and thirties from Sanju Samson and Krishnappa Gowtham as they struggled to get on top of their countrymen. Prasidh Krishna was the destroyer-in-chief, knocking over the top three India A batsmen to leave them on 45-3, finishing the innings with figures of 4-50.
Dharmendrasinh Jadeja played a key role in hampering India A’s run rate, conceding just 25 runs off his 10 overs, as well as picking up the wicket of Gowtham with his slow left-arm orthodox.
India B knocked off the runs without much trouble with 53 balls remaining and for the loss of just three wickets down, Mayank Agarwal scoring an excellent 124 off 114 balls (14 fours, three sixes) to pick up the Player of the Match award.
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