By 
Quinton de Kock’s blazing knock nearly gave South Africa victory over Zimbabwe in their T20 World Cup opening in Hobart on Monday, but weather intervened and both teams ended up sharing the points.
South Africa were comfortably chasing a reduced target of 64 from seven overs after the match had already been shortened to nine overs per side owing to rain, and they got off to an explosive start, with De Kock hammering 23 in the opening over alone.
Rain briefly halted play, but De Kock resumed where he left off, speeding to a ruthless 18-ball 47, but the next pause after three overs proved to be the final one, with South Africa needing only 13 runs to win.
Zimbabwe, having decided to bat, lost openers Craig Ervine (2) and Regis Chakabva (8) in the powerplay and were left reeling at 12-3 before the conclusion of the third over after the in-form Sikandar Raza was caught for a duck by Lungi Ngidi.
Sean Williams was run out (1) in the following over, but a 53-run partnership between Wessly Madhevere and Milton Shumba provided much-needed steadiness to Zimbabwe’s innings, allowing them to record a competitive total of 79-5.
Madhevere led the way with an unbeaten 35 off 17 balls, while Shumba added 18 before being removed on the final delivery of the innings, with Zimbabwe being awarded five penalty runs after the ball rolled into De Kock’s wicketkeeping glove on the field.
Zimbabwe will play Pakistan in their second Super 12 match on Thursday in Perth, while South Africa will face Bangladesh, who began their T20 World Cup with a laborious nine-run win against the Netherlands thanks to four wickets from paceman Taskin Ahmed.
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