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Hermann, Brevis star as Proteas defeat Zimbabwe

cricket14 July 2025 15:14| © MWP
By:CS Chiwanza
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Dewald Brevis smashed a brisk 41 off 17 balls, and Rubin Hermann announced himself to international cricket with a well-played 45 as they steered South Africa to a five-wicket win over Zimbabwe in their Tri-Series T20I encounter at Harare Sports Club on Monday afternoon.

South Africa completed the chase with 25 balls to spare. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first. Their captain, Rassie van der Dussen, was keen to capitalise on the swing on offer in the early afternoon. His bowlers did well to restrict the hosts to a total of 141/6, which is below par at Harare Sports Club.

“That partnership they had (Hermann and Brevis), it was brilliant. Overall, pretty happy with that performance. Dewald, he has played the IPL, the SA20, he has had a brilliant 6-12 months. Rubin has been around the domestic circuit forever and did not look out of his depth at all,” Van der Dussen shared after the match.

Hermann, who was making his debut for the visitors, gave a good account of himself with a well-made 45 from 37 balls. The left-hander arrived at the wicket in the third over, following the dismissals of Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Reeza Hendricks. Pretorius did not get his eye in, and Hendricks chopped onto his stumps just when it looked like the seasoned campaigner was about to unleash.

Hermann had some difficulty in adapting to the surface, and his struggles forced Rassie van der Dussen into taking matters into his hands to keep the scoreboard ticking. That led to the demise of the South African captain. However, once he got going, Hermann was unstoppable. The 28-year-old couldn't see South Africa past the finish line; he was undone by Richard Ngarava in the 15th over. South Africa needed only 12 runs to win.

Hermann was one part of a brilliant 72-run match-winning partnership with Dewald Brevis, who was judged to be the Player of the Match for his scintillating knock. The pair nullified Zimbabwe's good start with the ball to set the visitors up for victory.

“We were in an interesting position (when I came in to bat) but we were only a few boundaries away. There was no need to rush anything or go searching - plan was to keep it simple and play our game,” Brevis said.

Brevis smashed a 17-ball 41 that turned the match around. South Africa was on 38/3 after 5.4 overs and in need of a solid partnership to bat them out of the hole they were in. The 22-year-old did not just build a match-winning partnership with Rubin Hermann; he played a high-impact knock that turned things around.

Brevis unleashed his hitting ability in the 11th over. The 22-year-old hammered 24 runs off Ryan Burl to put South Africa in the driving seat. The over cost Zimbabwe a total of 25 runs. Brevis fell while trying to clear the fielder at extra cover. Instead, he miscued the ball and was caught by Sikandar Raza.

There wasn't much to do after Brevis' dismissal. South Africa needed fewer runs than the balls left in the contest. Hermann got the visitors close with a 20-run partnership with Corbin Bosch (22*). Then Bosch and George Linde (4*) saw the visitors home with a 12-run sixth-wicket partnership.

Richard Ngarava proved to be a handful for South Africa's batters, and the pacer was rewarded for his effort with three wickets for 35 runs in four overs. He was Zimbabwe's most successful bowler and is now the hosts’ highest wicket-taker in T20Is with 83 scalps. Trevor Gwandu chipped in with a brace of wickets for 15 runs in 3.1 overs.

“The scan in England was not too nice for him (Ngarava). He has worked really hard and he has come back earlier. He has the heart of a lion,” Raza shared.

Zimbabwe struggled to get a foothold in the match when they were batting. Their start was so slow that not even the entertaining 66-run fourth-wicket partnership between Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl could dig them out of trouble. The partnership was highly dependent on Raza's experience and ability.

The Zimbabwe captain led from the front with a wonderful unbeaten 54 from 38 balls. This is his 15th T20I half-century, and he reached the milestone in 34 balls. Burl scored a 20-ball 29 and needed to stay with Raza in the middle for longer for Zimbabwe to have any hope of reaching a competitive total.

The hosts did not have many contributors with the bat. Brian Bennett held the Zimbabwe innings together early on with a patient 28-ball 30. Unfortunately, he couldn't kick on after fighting to construct a platform for the hosts.

“Credit to Linde, his three overs suddenly changed the game. If that was a little different, we might have had 150-160. We were not sure about the wicket - we now know these are not going to be high-scoring games. We lost wickets at the wrong time and that put the brakes (on our innings),” Raza explained.

George Linde delivered a masterclass in bowling at the death with two wickets and four runs in the 20th over. The spinner was South Africa's best bowler and finished the match with three wickets from four overs, at a cost of 10 runs. Lungi Ngidi, Nandre Burger, and Nqaba Peter took a wicket each.

ZIMBABWE: Brian Bennett, Wessley Madhevere, Clive Madande (wk), Sikandar Raza (Capt), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani, Trevor Gwandu.

SOUTH AFRICA: Reeza Hendricks, Lhuan-dre Pretorius (wk), Rassie van der Dussen (Capt), Rubin Hermann, Dewald Brevis, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Andile Simelane, Nqaba Peter, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi

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