Zimbabwe to face Proteas with humiliation still fresh

07 August 2014 - 02:01 By Telford Vice in Harare
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Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza congratulates his captain Brendan Taylor, after the pair held a partnership of 102 runs, at the end of day 1 of the test match against Bangladesh, at the Harare Sports Club, on August 4, 2011. The match marks Zimbabwe's return to test cricket after a six year absence forced on them after all their best players quit in a dispute in 2005
Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza congratulates his captain Brendan Taylor, after the pair held a partnership of 102 runs, at the end of day 1 of the test match against Bangladesh, at the Harare Sports Club, on August 4, 2011. The match marks Zimbabwe's return to test cricket after a six year absence forced on them after all their best players quit in a dispute in 2005
Image: JEKESAI NJIKIZANA

For Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe's last Test series against South Africa in March 2005 will be too fresh for comfort when the teams clash in a one-off Test in Harare on Saturday.

"At the team meeting before the first Test at Newlands, I said: 'Guys, Jacques Kallis is struggling with his inswinger, but he still has the one that goes the other way'," Masakadza said.

The next day, Masakadza scratched his way to six off 37 balls. Then he left alone a ball from Kallis and was trapped plumb in front by an inswinger.

Taylor survived 10 deliveries for his two, only to follow a wide delivery from Makhaya Ntini and gift Mark Boucher his 300th Test dismissal. By then, Ntini had bowled Dion Ebrahim to reach 200 Test wickets.

It took the Proteas 31.2 overs and not much more than the first session of the match to dismiss Zimbabwe for 54, then their lowest- ever total. Barely 24 hours later, the game ended in victory for SA by an innings and 21 runs.

Nine years on, some things have changed and others not. The Proteas have bid farewell to Kallis, Boucher and Graeme Smith. Masakadza, Taylor and Elton Chigumbura are still there.

SA, who were ranked fifth, have earned and re-earned the No1 Test ranking. Zimbabwe were second from bottom. They still are.

After losing the second match of that series by an innings and 62 runs at Centurion, Zimbabwe played four more Tests - losing all by an innings - before suspending themselves from the format. The player walkout sparked by Heath Streak's removal as captain had taken its toll.

Zimbabwe were out of Test action from September 2005 to August 2011. In that time, SA played 55 Tests. Since their return, Zim have played 10 Tests. SA have played 28. In January 2012, New Zealand reduced Zimbabwe's lowest total to 51.

Those numbers capture the unfairness of Test cricket's lopsided reality. South Africans complain about the increasing occurrence of series of only two Tests on their team's itinerary.

But for Zimbabwe a two-Test series is almost always as good as it gets - 10 of their 93 Tests have been one-off affairs, and they have played only five rubbers of three matches.

But Hashim Amla would have no talk of triumph yesterday. "Whether you're playing Australia or Zimbabwe, the pressure to win is always there," he said. "We are here to play our best brand of cricket."

If that happens, SA could spend what would have been the last three days of the match fishing on Kariba.

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