Steyn and Tahir save the day

It couldn’t happen again, could it? It could, and it did in Bloemfontein on Wednesday, when Zimbabwe made South Africa look silly for the second time in as many games.

And, again, South Africa found their way out of the wet paper bag their opponents should have been – this time to win by 120 runs thanks to the all-round efforts of Dale Steyn and hat-trick hero Imran Tahir.

That, and South Africa’s fivewicket victory in Kimberley on Sunday, earned them the oneday series with a game to play.

But there was less for the home side to celebrate than to sweat over.

Another challenging pitch was only a minor mitigating factor in another shoddy batting performance.

On Kimberley’s spicy surface, South Africa slumped to 58/4 and 96/5 chasing only 118. Things got worse in Bloem, where they dwindled to 101/7 in a ball more than half their innings.

Cue Steyn, playing his first ODI in two years, to show the proper batsmen how it’s done.

It’s taken him 48 innings and more than 13 years as an ODI player, but Steyn couldn’t have picked a better moment to score his maiden half-century in the format.

Tahir’s 6/24 included having Sean Williams stumped, trapping PJ Moor in front and bowling Brandon Mavuta with consecutive deliveries.

With this performance, Tahir joins a South Africa hat-trick club that also has as members Charl Langeveldt, JP Duminy and Kagiso Rabada.