South Africa cruise to crushing 120-run win to seal the series

On the back on Dale Steyn's maiden ODI fifty and Imran Tahir's hat-trick by Imran Tahir, South Africa defeated Zimbabwe by 120 runs in the second ODI at the Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Courtesy of that win, they also took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match Test series.

South African captain JP Duminy won the toss and decided to bat first. It was a poor start by the hosts as they lost three early wickets. Opener Aiden Markram played with positive intent but the hosts were still 40/3 at the end of 10 overs.

Zimbabwe kept picking wickets at regular intervals to put South Africa under pressure at 101 for 7 in the 26th over. Dale Steyn and Andile Phehlukwayo rescued the hosts courtesy of a 75-run partnership for the eighth wicket. Steyn reached his half-century off 76 balls and also added 21 for the last wicket with Tahir.

Steyn was the top scorer for South Africa with 60 as they were bowled out for 198 in 47.3 overs. For Zimbabwe, Chatara took 3 wickets while Jarvis, Tiripano and Mavuta picked 2 wickets each.

Chasing 199 to win the match, Dale Steyn got the Proteas off to the perfect dismissing Solomon Mire and Sean Ervine cheaply. The Zimbabwean captain Hamilton Masakadza showed class with his aggressive batting but the side were still struggling scored 28 for 2 at the end of 10 overs.

Imran Tahir then ran through the batting line-up as he finished with six wickets including a hat-trick as Zimbabwe were bowled out Zimbabwe for 78 in 24 overs with Masakadza as the top scorer with 27.

Tahir finished with figures of 6/24 in 6 overs. Steyn took 2 wickets while Phehlukwayo and Ngidi picked 1 wicket each.

The third ODI will be played on 6th October at Boland Park, Paarl.

Brief scores: South Africa 198 in 47.3 overs (Dale Steyn 60, Aiden Markram 35; Tendai Chatara 3-42) beat Zimbabwe 78 in 24 overs (Hamilton Masakadza 27; Imran Tahir 6-24) by 120 runs.