Zimbabwe felled by crafty Titans
Trevor Chesterfield - 19 January 2000

Centurion - It was not quite the start to the triangular series they would have wanted with
Zimbabwe losing the warm-up friendly on a dew-soaked surface, for Northerns, though it was a promising peek into the immediate future. After all few but the Titans themselves, crafty and thoughtful, would have believed it possible to pull off a victory by eight runs over their
northern visitors at SuperSport Park last night with several performances to remember.

Scoring 251 for nine and bowling out Zimbabwe for 243 with the last ball of their innings was a tight call with Northerns skipper Neil McKenzie doing a purposeful job.

While England start their campaign in Potchefstroom today with a reshaped side and Nick
Knight and Graeme Hick all too eager to reclaim their Test places, South Africa had what could best termed a light workout yesterday. There is still some doubt about Jonty Rhodes' hamstring problem but no one is saying too much at present about that small issue. A week ago the view was that he would be ready, now there is more caution than optimism, which explains why today's training session for the Zimbabwe game is crucial for the Natal player.

As for Northerns it was a game they will enjoy - especially the result.. Gerald Dros finally put
three figures on the board and helped build the Titans innings around his stylish display.
Dropped in the slips by Grant Flower the first ball he faced, he paced his performance with all
the right buzz words "focus", "tough" and "right mental approach".

After all, it was the sort of performance which battered down the front door and saw him come charging in full throttle. "Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride, mates," is just the sort of comment he could have made after the lapse.

It was all good to watch as well. Neil McKenzie putting together 64 off 84 balls in the sort of
McKenzie manner you would expect. He was dropped too when he had two by Neil Johnson
who did not have the sort of outing he would really care to remember.

The Zimbabwe all-rounder went for 18 in his two overs and was yorked by Greg Smith for six.
Zimbabwe struggled though with Alistair Campbell, coming in at three, trying to keep the
innings together until he perished in the 44th over when a top edge off Mike Rindels' bowling
was gobbled safely by Martin van Jaarsveld, who collected three catches, two at mid-wicket
which also did much to undo Zimbabwe's response to Northerns‚ challenging target.

McKenzie switched his bowlers around and with quality support from the fielders helped choke
off the runs with Pierre Joubert, Dirkie de Vos and Greg Smith chipping in with the sort of
efforts which showed a certain class. And despite the handicap of a wet ball as well.

Whenever Zimbabwe looked to be getting back into the game McKenzie tightened the grip with careful field placings which helped suck out the efforts to score runs. It was a tough welcome for Andy Flower's side who face South Africa tomorrow in the opening game of the series. Losing five wickets for 40 runs in a matter of 6.4 overs did not help, either as they left their charge too late with batsmen making unforced errors to get out