South Africa A slipped to a 36-run defeat – and four-one series loss – in Friday’s fifth and final limited-overs fixture against India A at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.
Rain reduced the fixture to 20 over per side. The hosts posted a final total of 204-4 on the back of middle-order maestro Sanju Samson’s 91. His cameo spanned a mere 48 deliveries – and was eventually stopped by spinner George Linde.
Linde, who has been added to the Proteas’ squad for this month’s three T20Is in India, also snared the key dismissal of opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan. Left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks also took two wickets.
Opening batsman Reeza Hendricks, who was largely the mainstay of the visiting batting order throughout the five fixtures, top-scored with 59. He relished good support from middle-order batsman Kyle Verreynne, whose 44 came from a mere two dozen deliveries – and featured a trio of fours and quartet of sixes.
Hendricks scored 239 runs for an average of 59.75 across the five matches. Wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen was next with 168 at 42. Fast bowler Anrich Nortje took the most wickets – seven in four fixtures. Hendricks and Linde claimed five each.
India A and South Africa A will meet for two four-day fixtures in Thiruvananthapuram and Mysore later this month.
Photo: Gallo Images
