Morne Morkel replaces Steyn - and immediately settles into a string of short balls to test Utseya. One of 'em is pretty rogue, sliding down the leg-side and called wide. Zimbabwe are going nowhere slowly here. Someone needs to tee off. Rather slog and get to 120 than defend out a total of under 100...
Change of ends for Kallis. And more success. WICKET! Cremer went for the pull, the bounce got big on him, the pace was too quick for him. Just glove on that, and de Villiers pockets the catch down the leg-side. That's three wickets for Kallis, answering all the critics who say T20I cricket his not his forte. Utseya is the new man in.
Just the one over for Kallis, who surely warranted a second after his double strike? Anyway, Steyn to continue. The over starts with a near run-out. Not for the first time today and maybe not the last, a direct-hit can't beat, marginally so, the batsman en route back to the crease. The pace ace, later, keeps his lines tight and his lengths effective throughout. We haven't had a boundary since the first ball of the eighth over.
This ship is sinking, and a period of settling is in order. Cremer and Ervine, well aware of the need for an extended patch without further loss, duly drop anchor - across this tight over from Albie Morkel, at least.
Kallis - and his veteran right-arm seam - into the attack. Notoriously good as a partnership-breaker, the Proteas need him to end this blossoming alliance. WICKET! Right on cue, he does just that, with Matsikenyeri flat-batting one straight to cover, where Peterson hangs onto a good catch. That's the end of a fine 35-run partnership. Chigumbura in now, and his stay lasts all of one delivery. WICKET! The right-hander is out lbw as plumb as they come. He had no idea about that one, caught on the backfoot when he should have been forward. The full length strikes him on the front pad dead in front of the stumps. The appeal is lodged in a flash, and the umpire's finger raised equally as quickly. Cremer in now, surviving the hat-trick ball. For the record, only one man has taken a WT20 hat-trick - Australian speedster Brett Lee.
Albie Morkel back into the attack - and really puts his back into the third delivery of the over, finding some big bounce from this Hambantota pitch. Lucky not to have it called wide, actually, as Ervine really wasn't going to reach that aboveh his head. The next delivery, though, is a wide - correctly so, it slipped down the leg-side. So arrives the halfway mark of the innings, with Zimbabwe crawling along at a fraction more than five runs per over.
Additional flight from Botha, but driven to the deep cover fence by Ervine, who then turns a single to midwicket. Wise rotation of the strike, indeed. Matsikenyeri later rides an appeal for lbw, surviving as umpire Davis deems the angle to be too wide of leg-stump. Right choice, attested to by a quick television replay. Nine runs off the over - the most expensive of the innings so far.
Spin at both ends now. Left-armer Peterson into the attack. Ervine remains determined to advance down the track, while Matsikenyeri preffers the sweep. That said, Ervine - out of the blue - whips out a cheeky reverse-sweep, all the way to the fence for for. Peterson won't like that one bit. Nor should he. Oh the audacity of it all...
Time for some spin, in the form of Botha's right-armers. Immediately in the channel, he lures the right-handed Matsikenyeri into a false shot. No harm, though. Ervine won't stay rooted to his crease, however, quickly dancing down the track to meet the ball at its pitch - duly caressing it through the on-side for a couple.
A third over on the trot for Morne Morkel. Unlike his predecssor, no intent to swing for the fences from Matsikenyeri, who is intent on merely milking the odd single to the inner-ring fielders. Neither of these batsmen are genuine big-hitters, and that'll suffice for now. Zimbabwe need a period of calm. Chigumbura and the like can resume the punches later. So marks the end of the Powerplay.
Change of bowling as Albie Morkel replaces Steyn, and is quickly welcomed into the attack by Ervine, who clobbers a poor length through cover for four. Television commentators Bishop and Mbangwa reckon Morkel is the weak link in this attack, but that's quite a preposterous suggestion. WICKET! And he proves stronger than suggestion, forcing Masakadza to hole out at mid-on. The awkward length undid the batsman, who was blindly determined to swing at anything put in front of him. Zimbabwe, again, in all sorts of trouble. An entirely flat campaign from them, indeed. Disappointing. Matsikenyeri, picked ahead of Waller, at the crease now - and plenty to prove.
WICKET! Taylor offers himself room to the leg-side, swiping for two but then edging the next. His intent was obvious but his technique lacking, and that's an easy catch behind the wickets for de Villiers and a second scalp for Morkel. Just two runs in two matches, and probably the end of his tournament, from the Zimbabwean captain. Ervine to the crease now, watching from the safety of the non-striker's end as Masakadza swats four down the ground to close the over with disdain.
De Villiers gives Steyn a second slip when Taylor is on strike. Rightly so. For Masakadza, though, just the one. In the end, and entirely tight over from Steyn despite Masakadza's finest effort to wield on the cut and heave on the slog. The right-hander swung at 'em all, missing both.
Morkel, Morne not Albie, to share the new ball with Steyn. His approach is a lot shorter than his fellow fast bowler, with Masakadza happy to take the attack to the bowler on the pull. WICKET! Morkel's double-bluff later gets rid of Sibanda, who plays right over a delivery he perhaps thought was going to be pitched short. The length crashes through the gate, with Sibanda's drive missing anything and everything. Bowled is the result. Taylor, eager to avoid a repeat of the first-ball duck he suffered against Sri Lanka, in now. And he does just that, sneaking a single behind square on the leg-side to get off the mark - and breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, I'm fielding your thoughts on South Africa's decision to drop Faf du Plessis and bring in Farhaan Behardien. It's a travesty, in my humble opinion. Contact me at this email address.
Pace ace Steyn gets first use of the new ball, enjoying some away swing at the start, which Masakadza is happy to leave alone. The seamer is happy to accrue this slew of dot balls, which ends when the right-hander charges the bowler, adjusts to the line, and punts a single to the covers.
Handshakes, national anthems and other such pleasantries done and dusted, batsmen Sibanda and Masakadza, umpires Davis and Kettleborough and the South African XI head out to the middle for the start of play in front of a disappointingly small crowd.
Former West Indies fast bowler and pseudo pitch pundit Ian Bishop surveys the playing surface, finding plenty of grass cover for the seamers to take advantage of. There is bound to be swing on offer too. The weather, meanwhile, is a humid, sweaty 33 degrees Celsius. There was a bit of rain earlier, so that has cooled conditions down, but only a bit.
Zimbabwe have dropped Chris Mpofu in favour of Ray Price, while Stuart Matsikenyeri is in the middle order. Malcolm Waller is dropped, much like the catches he let go to ground in the first game.
Zimbabwe need to win this to stay in the tournament, while the Proteas have yet to play. They will want to win well here, given their failings in the unofficial series against the Zimbos in Harare earlier in the year. Richard Levi is getting another chance to show he's not a one-innings wonder, while Behardien plays only his second T20I.
South Africa have left Faf du Plessis out of the side. Here's their line-up: Levi, Amla, Kallis, AB, Duminy, Behardien, Albie, Botha, Robbie P, Steyn, M.Morkel.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl, looking at the grassy surface for the seamers.
Hello and welcome to our over-by-over commentary of the World Twenty20 Group C clash between South Africa v Zimbabwe at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota.