Pretorius' career-best 94 sets up big win against lackluster Zimbabwe

South Africa 185 for 7 (Pretorius 94, Brevis 41, Madhevere 3-20, Evans 2-33) beat Zimbabwe 142 (Raza 45, Fortuin 4-24, Jansen 3-21) by 43 runs

Lhuan-dre Pretorius fell six runs short of what would've been his first T20I century but contributed more than enough as South Africa's batting overwhelmed Zimbabwe for the second time in the tri-series. Pretorius and Jordan Hermann shared an opening partnership of 68, before a second-wicket stand of 86 between Pretorius and Dewald Brevis set South Africa up for a big finish. They didn't get it, but still scored 185 for 7.

Zimbabwe, who finished a last-ball thriller against Namibia less than 24 hours before this match began, looked like a side that had not recovered. Their bowling, without the rested Blessing Muzarabani, especially lacked structure, and their fielding was lethargic. They dropped Pretorius on 57, which proved costly, even though it was not to blame for the final result.

For that, Zimbabwe have to look at their batting, which remains heavily dependent on a good start from the opening pair, and has several middle-order holes. Both Ben Curran and Brian Bennett were dismissed early, and Zimbabwe were unable to recover. They lost eight wickets for 66 runs, and Sikandar Raza's 45 ensured their total climbed over 100.

South Africa's spinners deserve the bulk of the credit for keeping pressure on Zimbabwe by striking regularly. Stand-in skipper Bjorn Fortuin finished with career-best figures of 4 for 24, while Prenelan Subrayen and Nqaba Peter bagged one each.

The 43-run defeat has left Zimbabwe with a net run rate of -1.691, which could affect their chances of qualifying for the final. Zimbabwe have one match left to play, against Namibia on Thursday. South Africa also have a game to play, but have pulled away from the other two teams on the points table. Namibia will play both remaining games to complete the group stage.