South Africa saunter to seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe second string

With Boeta Dippenaar at last running into form, South Africa sauntered to a seven-wicket victory over Zimbabwe 'A' in a one-day warmup match in Bulawayo on Friday.

Dippenaar took just 55 balls to make his 60, helping himself to eight fours and towo sixes along the way as the tourists took just a ball more than 20 overs to pass the modest 128 made by the home team earlier in the day.

There were contributions of 28 from Herschelle Gibbs and 24 from Mark Boucher before Jonty Rhodes, who flew up to Zimbabwe this week for the one-day series which starts in Bulawayo on Sunday, hit the winning runs.

The South African victory had been set up by fast bowler Andre Nel who claimed five for 11 in the morning as the Zimbabwe 'A' top order melted away.

At one point the Zimbabweans had crumbled to 26 for five before young Tatenda Taibu offered some resistance with a dogged 21 and Paul Strang (45 not out) helped the tail take the score into three figures to give Zimbabwe 'A' a semblance of respectability.