<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen scored 88 runs during SA\u2019s final round-robin match, helping the Proteas post 228 after being sent in to bat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Opening Batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius scored a maiden T20 International century after finishing six runs short of the milestone only days earlier.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen moved up the batting order to open alongside Pretorius, with the partnership providing the foundation for SA\u2019s total.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The 88-run innings was Esterhuizen\u2019s highest score in nine T20 International appearances. Esterhuizen hopes to improve further when the Proteas face the Chevrons in the final. \u201cWell, I think first and foremost we\u2019re looking forward to the challenge; there\u2019s a trophy on the line so it\u2019s a great opportunity to win a trophy,\u201d Esterhuizen said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how good that Zimbabwe outfit is, so we\u2019re gonna have to be on top of our game in order to come out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Esterhuizen said batting with Pretorius made responsibilities at the crease clear, particularly once Pretorius found scoring momentum. \u201cI think it\u2019s obvious to get the win and get some momentum going into the final. I think mindset-wise, not much, just to keep it simple, batting with Lhu is nice and simple out there,\u201d Esterhuizen said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI know my job when he\u2019s going like he\u2019s going, so yeah, we just try to get as many runs as possible because it was a good wicket and we knew it was a good wicket.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Proteas bowlers then completed the victory by keeping Namibia below the 228-run target on a batting-friendly surface. \u201cOn the bowling end, it was just damage control, as I said it was a good wicket, so restricting them under the target was a great effort, so we\u2019re looking forward to Sunday,\u201d Esterhuizen said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SA will enter the final with confidence following the strong batting display, but Esterhuizen expects Zimbabwe to present a more difficult challenge with the trophy at stake.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–SABCSport\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44728,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-44727","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa (SA) Wicketkeeper-Batter Connor Esterhuizen believes the Proteas can secure the tri-series trophy against Zimbabwe after building momentum with a victory over Namibia.","published_date":"","news_description":"","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44729,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44727\/revisions\/44729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}