Cricket

Pretorius leads South Africa to win but misses century

By AAP Newswire

Sep 2, 2026

South African opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius has powered his side to a ‌comfortable 43-run victory over Zimbabwe in the ‌fourth match of the Twenty20 tri-series also involving ‌hosts Namibia.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

Pretorius came close to a maiden T20 international century, scoring 94 as South Africa elected to bat first and scored 7-185 at the Namibia ‌Cricket Ground.

Zimbabwe ‌were ⁠bowled out for 142 in reply with captain Sikandar Raza top-scoring with 45 and pace bowler Duan Jansen taking 3-21.

Pretorius hit 15 boundaries in his 51-ball innings before being bowled in ⁠the penultimate over. He ‌and Dewald Brevis, who scored 41, added 86 runs for the ‌second-wicket partnership.

Zimbabwe quickly had their backs to the wall, teetering on 8-66 in the 10th over before the last two partnerships gave their scorecard respectability. They were dismissed after 17.4 overs.

Zimbabwe ‌take on Namibia on Thursday, followed by Namibia against South Africa in the last of the round-robin matches. The two teams with the most points after four matches each will contest Sunday's final.

South Africa now have two wins from three games, Namibia one from two and Zimbabwe one from three.