Zimbabwe stunned favourites South Africa by nine wickets on Sunday in the final of the non-cap Twenty20 tri-nations tournament in Harare.

It was the second time in five days that the host nation put their powerful neighbours to the sword in a warm-up event for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September and October.

Zimbabwe beat the Proteas by 29 runs last Wednesday in the pool phase of a tournament that included Bangladesh, but lost by six wickets to South Africa on Saturday and entered the final as outsiders.

South Africa made 6-146 off 20 overs with Faf du Plessis (66) top-scoring but that was nowhere near enough as Zimbabwe reached 1-150 with 17 balls to spare thanks to a superb unbeaten partnership between captain Brendan Taylor (59no) and Hamilton Masakadza (58no).

Many South African cricket writers had argued against the Proteas going to Harare, saying Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were too weak to provide meaningful opposition.

“I am over the moon after beating a quality team and so proud of the boys,” said No.3 batsman and wicketkeeper Taylor. “We don’t get days like these very often so we are going to enjoy ourselves tonight.”

“The squad has been working really hard over the past three months and we accept that we must put in more hard yards than some other teams. After losing on Saturday, I just told the boys to remain calm.”

“I thought 146 was a defendable total so hats off to Zimbabwe,” said South Africa captain Hashim Amla. “While Zimbabwe were the better team on the day, we have learnt a lot regarding who should go to Sri Lanka and who should hot.”