Hambantota: South Africa produced a clinical performance to knock Zimbabwe out of the ICC World Twenty20 with a comfortable 10-wicket victory in a lop-sided Group C match here on Thursday.
Zimbabwe crashed out of the event after slumping to their second defeat in the tournament having lost to hosts Sri Lanka by 82 runs in the tournament opener.
As expected, both Sri Lanka and South Africa, who face each other in their last group match here on Saturday, have progressed to the Super Eight stages from the pool.
Opening their campaign in the tournament, South Africa first restricted Zimbabwe to 93 for eight after inviting the opposition to bat and then piled up the runs without breaking a sweat.
Richard Levi smashed his way to a 44-ball unbeaten 50 while Hashim Amla remained not out on 32 from 33 balls as South Africa chased down the target with 44 balls to spare.
Earlier, Jacques Kallis stole the show with four wickets as a pace inspired South Africa restricted minnows Zimbabwe to the paltry total.
Man-of-the-Match Kallis utilised the lively pitch to perfection and scalped four wickets for 15 runs to rock Zimbabwe.
He was ably supported by pace duo of Morne Morkel (2/16) and Dale Steyn (1/9), who produced a lethal opening spell to dismantle the Zimbabweans.
“I am very happy with the start. I back our pace bowlers to do well on this kind of deck. Hopefully its the same for the next game. We are definitely prepared for whatever the conditions may be,” de Villiers said after the match.
Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor is undoubtedly a disappointed man after crashing out of the event, but vowed to bounce back strongly soon.
“It’s the end of the road, they (South Africa) showed how classy a bowling line-up they are. We are a team that are going to bounce back sharply, we’ve improved a lot over the last 24 months,” he said.
The organisers of the tournament may be in for soe criticism, as the Sri Lanka-South Africa tie has been made into something of a dead rubber as both teams have now qualiefied for the Super Eights.
If England defeat Afghanistan on Friday, the former will qualify before what was expected to be the major clash of their group, against India, who will also go through. (PTI)