New Zealand, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are currently participating in the tri-nation series in Zimbabwe. The Black caps have defeated South Africa in the 1st game and Zimbabwe in the second game of the ongoing series. The series is undefeated in this series so far.
The first victory of the series, against the quality South Africa’s side, is special to Tim Robinson, as he played a greater role in that victory and if anything it increased his dopamine level and now he wants to experience more.
“It’s a great feeling contributing to a win for your country and it’s an addicting feeling and one that I hope to replicate later on,” Robinson said after his career-best 75 not out contributed to New Zealand’s 21-run win in the Zimbabwe T20I tri-series.
Robinson and rookie Bevon Jacobs pushed the innings from a sluggish 70 for 5 to a competitive 173 for 5, sharing a sixth-wicket stand of 103, which was New Zealand’s second-highest in that position.
Robinson acknowledged that South Africa’s four-seam attack made things tough for New Zealand up front, despite the Harare Sports Club’s reputation for being fairly flat and favorable to run-scoring.
“The Proteas bowling was exceptional,” he said. “Their lengths and the use of the long side was really impressive and they bowled really well with the newer ball. It was hard to find momentum when we were continuing to lose wickets but as we got on and took it deeper and deeper, we could capitalise.”
Actually, Robinson and Jacobs found runs against the seamers from South Africa. Only after they had been together for a while and had figured out their run-scoring technique did Robinson take 27 runs off 20 balls from Corbin Bosch, including five fours, and 23 off 15 balls from Gerald Coetzee, off whom he smashed both sixes.
“The way we thought about it was that the longer we spent at the crease, the easier runs would come,” Robinson said, “and we couldn’t quite afford to lose many more wickets. We tried to take it as deep as we possibly could and then run hard to the long side.”
Robinson also praised the composure and temperament shown by the debutant Jacobs as he scored 44 off 30 balls.
He’s an amazing guy. You look at him and he’s quite the big guy and you think he should hit a big ball and he sure does,” Robinson said. “It was fantastic batting with him. What stood out for me was when he came out he was very calm and looked to really enjoy it. He looked completely comfortable out there and played a really really good knock. He’s going to play a lot of cricket and it’s very exciting watching him bat.”
New Zealand will now face South Africa on 22nd July in the ongoing series and if anything Tim Robinson would love to replicate the heroics. The team will face Zimbabwe again on 24th July.
