Zimbabwe vs South Africa, 3rd Match Live Cricket Score at Harare

"Today's pitch is dry and some cracks have developed. There is no moisture in it. It will be a slow wicket and we will get some turn as well. Team winning the toss will be looking to bat first," said Shaun Pollock.

Hashim Amla was captaining in the absence of AB de Villiers, who was not feeling well. Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell were also not playing today. South Africa included Rilee Rossouw, Kyle Abbott and Aaron Phangiso. Zimbabwe made a couple of changes - Brian Vitori and Malcom Waller came in for Tinashe Panyangara and Richmond Mutumbami.

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI): Hashim Amla(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Faf du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Ryan McLaren, Kyle Abbott, Dale Steyn, Aaron Phangiso, Imran Tahir

Zimbabwe (Playing XI): Sikandar Raza, Tino Mawoyo, Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor(w), Elton Chigumbura(c), Malcolm Waller, Sean Williams, Prosper Utseya, John Nyumbu, Tendai Chatara, Brian Vitori

John Nyumbu started off with a maiden while Tendai Chatara also bowled a tight first over, giving away only one. Amla and de Kock got into the act after that, dealing in boundaries to get South Africa off to a positive start. The Proteas skipper had a lucky break in the 5th over when he was put down by Vitori off his own bowling. Amla hit one straight back to the bowler, who took the eyes off the ball and it ricocheted off his shoulder towards mid-on but the fielder there was also unable to get there in time.

Chatara then bowled a maiden in the 6th over to slow things down but Vitori ended up conceding two boundaries (one was an inside edge) to de Kock in the next over. The left-handed opener also managed back-to-back boundaries off Elton Chigumbura in the 9th over before Amla took a single off Chatara in the 10th to bring up the half-century stand. South Africa moved to 53/0 after 10 overs.

Spinners, Prosper Utseya and Sean Williams bowled in tandem and did not concede a boundary for a few overs as they kept things tight. The opening pair though were happy to rotate the strike regularly, picking up the runs in singles, twos and threes, as they maintained a steady scoring rate. South Africa went boundary-less for 5 overs before de Kock ended the drought with with a slog over mid-wicket off Utseya in the 17th over. In the next over, the left-hander took a single off Williams to bring up his 3rd ODI fifty.

Meanwhile, Amla became the fourth South African to go past 500 runs against Zimbabwe in ODIs. The right-hander eased a Williams delivery past the long off boundary to power South Africa past 100 in the 20th over to bring up the fifth century stand between this pair. With a single off Vitori in the 21st over, Amla registered his 24th ODI fifty. de Kock then hit his first maximum by elegantly lofting Vitori over mid wicket to take South Africa to 116/0 after 21 overs.

The opening pair added 142 runs before the partnership came to an end in the 25th over when Amla (66) fell to Utseya. Coming down the track and looking to hoick it over mid wicket, the right-handed opener was beaten by the turn, failing to make any contact with the ball and was out stumped.

The spinner was just getting started as he brought about the dismissals of de Kock, Rossouw and David Miller off consecutive deliveries in his next over to derail South Africa. Going for the reverse sweep, de Kock (76) found Chatara at third-man, Rossouw (0) nicked to Nyumbu at first slip while trying to block the delivery while Miller (0) missed a straight delivery and was struck plumb in front. Utseya, with the three successive scalps, became the second Zimbabwe bowler after Eddo Brandes (against England 1997) to pick up a hat-trick.

Utseya then picked up his maiden five-wicket haul by trapping JP Duminy (2) in front. South Africa were struggling at 155/5 after 31 overs.

The centurion of the previous game, Faf du Plessis, perished cheaply in the match, falling to Nyumbu in the 34th over. It was a soft dismissal as the right-hander, looking to turn one away to the leg side, ended up chipping it straight to Sikander Raza at short mid-wicket.

Utseya, who bowled the 36th over - the second over of batting powerplay - gave away only two runs to finish with excellent figures of 10-0-36-5. In the next over, South Africa suffered a further setback as Ryan McLaren became Nyumbu's second scalp. The all-rounder attempted a sweep shot, but the ball brushed his thigh pad, hit the glove and then ricocheted onto the stumps. The batting PP yielded just 9 runs for South Africa.

Steyn was the next to depart, bowled round his legs after shuffling too much in the 42nd over. Nyumbu, who dismissed the South African pace spearhead, finished with career-best figures of 3/42.

Kyle Abbot, who was the next man in, did not last too long either, becoming Chatara's first scalp in the 44th over. Abbott went for a drive, but the ball hit the splice off his bat and lobbed to mid off, where Chigumbura took a simple catch.

South Africa crossed the 200-mark when Imran Tahir took a couple off Waller in thee 45th over. The South African leg-spinner defied the Zimbabwe bowlers as he scored some crucial runs towards the end including a few boundaries. Phangiso TOO contributed some useful runs with the bat before becoming the last to depart. South Africa managed to post 231 thanks to an unbeaten 23 from Tahir and the last wicket pair's 36-run stand.

Zimbabwe would be very pleased with their bowling effort. Utseya was their hero as he picked up a hat-trick and also his first 5-wicket haul. This was South Africa's lowest total in Zimbabwe. At one stage, when they were 142/0, it looked like they will get to 300 with ease. However, Amla departed after scoring a fifty and so did de Kock. After those two wickets, things went downhill as none of the batsmen could pick the variations of Utseya and Nyumbu. The spin-duo picked up 8 wickets between them and were well supported by Williams and Chatara - the latter finished with two wickets.

It was Dale Steyn, who opened the bowling for South Africa. With a slightly scrambled seam, he got the ball to leave the right-handed batsmen. He kept it simple like always with the odd ball angling back into the batsmen due to natural variation off the track. Kyle Abbott, who shared the new ball with Steyn extracted seam movement off the track to keep the opposition in check.

Zimbabwe then lost Mawoyo to what was an ill-judged single taken. Poor running between the wickets from Zimbabwe.

Once Mawoyo was run out, Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza took charge of the situation on hand. Raza, smashed one over extra cover for a six off Abbott's bowling. Masakadza showed that he picks up the length quickly by clouting Abbott for two sixes. He also had that chutzpah to sweep Steyn for a boundary! South Africa certainly are 30-40 runs short of a par total on this deck.

Hamilton Masakadza lost his concentration prowess and Phangiso, the slow left-arm orthodox took advantage of it with the one that went with the angle. Poor defence shown by Masakadza there with the ball sneaking between bat and pad. Zimbabwe needed him to stay at the crease for a longer period.

Brendan Taylor played down the wrong line to see his stumps going for a walk in the park. Phangiso has struck twice in his short spell. Zimbabwe are in trouble for sure. The deck is still fine for batting with the odd one keeping low.

Imran Tahir with that deadly wrong un of his has come into the attack. He may lack a stock ball, but make no mistake with that wrong un he can test the nook and cranny of a batsman's defence.

Tahir has straightaway taken a wicket too. Poor shot by Raza as he picked out the fielder at long off. The batsman just had a brain fade there.

Sean Williams, the batsman in form for Zimbabwe came into bat at No.5 in the batting line-up. With twinkle-toed footwork he danced down the wicket to smash Phangiso for a six.

However, Zimbabwe were given a much-needed life what with Waller being dropped by de Kock/Amla in the slip cordon. Waller then took on Tahir by smashing him for a boundary. In some ways he bats like his father Andrew Waller.

Just when Zimbabwe seemed to be in the hunt, Malcolm Waller threw his wicket away. He tried a pull shot, but was caught by Rossouw in the deep. It wasn't a great delivery from Steyn, but he would take that wicket anyday. Zimbabwe have lost half of their side now.

Zimbabwe's key batsman, Sean Williams, lost his wicket to Ryan McLaren's bowling. It was a soft dismissal, as he chipped it straight to short mid-wicket fielder, Hashim Amla. Another batsman who got a start, but wasn't able to convert. Zimbabwe are in dire straits now.

South Africa were on course to win the game what with both Utseya and Nyumbu losing their wickets to Ryan McLaren. McLaren just bowled back of a length and both batsmen edged it to the wicketkeeper. Nyumbu though, wasn't particularity happy with the decision.

Zimbabwe have been bundled out for a mere 170 runs. The tail-enders just couldn't handle short pitch stuff and finally, they lost by a margin of 61 runs. Steyn, took the last wicket off Vitori, the tail-ender with a short delivery. Zimbabwe had a chance to win the game, but just lost the plot with soft dismissals.