Opener Tony de Zorzi’s maiden ODI ton takes South Africa to series-levelling win after middle-order collapse restricts India to 211 | Cricket News

At the start of this year, an interviewer from a lifestyle magazine asked Tony de Zorzi about his goals for the year. De Zorzi would answer: “Some more Instagram posts, more tattoos, more runs and longer hair.”In the last month of 2023, he could safely say that he has achieved all of his goals. The posts on Insta have been piling up, the ink has found more spots on his body, the rasta dreadlocks are shoulder-long. And most importantly, he has been racking up the runs.
After an impressive start to his Test career, he showed he has the toolset to thrive in 50-over cricket too, with an unbeaten hundred that was more Caribbean than South African in tune, all flying locks and horizontal-bat flair. If the pull was his most productive stroke, the cut was the most brutal shot in his repertoire. De Zorzi executed both, and several others, with the insouciance that froze the imagination of India’s bowlers, stifled their ingenuity and shattered the confidence.

TON FOR TONY 💯
A touch of brilliance from Tony de Zorzi to notch his maiden ODI century for the Proteas 🇿🇦🏏
A 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ reason to ❤ Tony #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/Xw29dVbHR7
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) December 19, 2023
As such, their powers were reduced to half after a collapse from India’s experimental middle order (three wickets for 33 runs, from 136 for 3 to 169 for six) that restricted them to 211, which South Africa chased down with eight wickets in hand. The surface chose to show a more benevolent side later in the day, when the sun had killed its moure and devils, but an eight-wicket defeat doesn’t show the bowling unit in any sympathetic light.
The surface still offered assance for bowlers, the bounce was still true and the pitch on the faster side. But India’s bowlers were not persent enough, not patient enough, and most damningly not incisive enough. Perhaps, they presumed that the same tricks that worked at the Bullring would work at St George’s Park. Those did not, and any revision of plans backfired. Whatever be, De Zorzi made hay.
He looked like a walking wicket — more Darren Bravo than his famous cousin Brian Lara — in the initial overs. In the first over, Mukesh Kumar beat his outside edge and induced one the next ball, only for it to whle past the ears of the slips-men.

Tony de Zorzi causing a stir 😎#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/fm2BSeG3zd
— Werner (@Werries_) December 19, 2023
Arshdeep tormented him even more — three times he was beaten (when defending as well as going for his strokes). Twice the edges eluded the fielders. De Zorzi rode obscene luck, but India’s bowlers did not make their own luck either. They shrunk soon after two fours off a Kumar over. Both were gambles, a thump over mid-on and a chancy square drive. The momentum of the game would instantly shift.
No trick worked
Not to discount Reeza Hendricks, who unfurled fearsome strokes himself. Realising the ineffectiveness of the seamers, skipper KL Rahul introduced Kuldeep Yadav in the hope that the pair’s unfamiliarity with wr-spin would trigger fear and panic. But they have an expert left-arm wr-spinner of their own, Tabraiz Shamsi, in the squad to not be fazed Kuldeep.

De Zorzi relished the duel and emerged the runaway winner. Just the second ball, he slog-swept through mid-wicket. Three balls of Kuldeep later, he heaved him over long-on for a six, another stroke reminiscent of the Caribbean. More respect was offered to Axar Patel, whose suffocating lengths were near un-hittable. Just one four was struck off him.
Kuldeep tightened up his bowling, but the need of the hour was a fleet of wickets. Arshdeep produced the breakthrough with a short-ball, hurrying Hendricks into a misjudged pull. But the next wicket— off part-timer Rinku Singh’s bowling — arrived when South Africa were six short of the winning score, after de Zorzi had snuffed out all of India’s hopes.
The period between the two wickets was one of helplessness for the visitors. De Zorzi and Rassie van der Dussen systematically destroyed whatever plan India had devised. The pacers, bereft of inspiration, were put through the wringer, the spinners were expertly dealt with.

🗣️ “I’ll never forget a moment like this!”
You’ve been waiting to hear Tony de Zorzi’s reaction..
Here’s what the Man of the Match had to say about his century 👂 pic.twitter.com/MEJl3d4gro
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) December 19, 2023
Then with a couple off a misfield, off his 110th ball, De Zorzi completed his maiden international hundred. He raised his arms and sunk to the ground, seized as though a flood of emotions. He would later admit as much. “Was a flood of emotions, to be honest. I first thought of my mom, she would have been back from work,” he would tell the broadcasters during the presentation. “There are a lot of doubters and I’m happy to prove them wrong. Was quite cool to go to the band and everyone is clapping there, I will never forget a moment like this,” he added.
Raised a single mother, his journey has been tough, especially after he struggled for consency after leading his country in the 2016 U-19 World Cup. He struggled for runs until he came under the wings of former South Africa middle-order mainstay Ashwell Prince at Western Province. He describes himself as “spontaneous, rebellious, and outspoken but driven and fair.”
All those characterics played out during his knock that levelled the series with one match to go, and made his year merrier. One more goal achieved.