72 not out by Sean Williams helped Zimbabwe to an easy win over Bermuda yesterday, with Zim needing only 29 overs to chase down Bermuda's total. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Bermuda were in early trouble with the loss of their top 4 batsmen for just 31 runs. The arrival of Janeiro Tucker and Oliver Pitcher brought some mid-innings stability, but once they were removed the poor batting continued. Only 4 of Bermuda's batsmen reached double figures, and while they managed to complete 50 overs (the final wicket falling on the last ball of their innings), their final total of 136 looked well short of being a defendable total. Anthony Ireland's 3/22 was the pick of the Zimbabwe bowling, with just one bowler (Elton Chigumbura) going for more than 3/over.
When Vusi Sibanda and Terrence Duffin both fell within the first 3 overs, though, Bermuda may have had visions of an unlikely win - but Sean Williams and Chamu Chibhabha combined to put on 73 for the third wicket and played a large part in bringing up the required total in just 29 overs.
A walk in the park for Zimbabwe, then, but the cheap wickets of Duffin (1), Sibanda (2) and Chigumbura (4) will be a worry ahead of the opening group match against Ireland. The Arnos Vale wicket seems to have suited Zimbabwe's bowlers during both warm-up matches - hopefully Jamaica will be equally friendly, but some work clearly need to be done on the batting if Zimbabwe are to harbour any hopes of progressing to the Super Eight.
Bermuda 136 (50 overs; Tucker 56, Ireland 3/22), Zimbabwe 137/4 (29 overs; Williams 72*, Leverock 2/54). Zimbabwe win by 6 wickets. Check below the cut for the full scorecard.
Scorecard
Bermuda innings DA Minors c Sibanda b Mupariwa 12 CJ Smith c Brent b Ireland 7 DL Hemp c & b Ireland 0 IH Romaine c Chigumbura b Ireland 4 JJ Tucker c Duffin b Mpofu 56 OL Pitcher c Sibanda b Utseya 16 LOB Cann c Utseya b Mpofu 7 S Mukuddem c Matsikenyeri b Dabengwa 3 DCC Borden not out 6 MO Jones b Dabengwa 0 KAD Hurdle c Dabengwa b Chigumbura 10 Extras (b 4, lb 4, w 7) 15 Total (all out; 50 overs) 136 Did not bat: RDM Leverock, SKW Kelly Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Smith, 7.4 ov), 2-14 (Hemp, 9.1 ov), 3-18 (Romaine, 9.6 ov), 4-31 (Minors, 14.5 ov), 5-88 (Pitcher, 32.3 ov), 6-110 (Cann, 37.3 ov), 7-115 (Tucker, 41.5 ov), 8-122 (Mukuddem, 46.1 ov), 9-122 (Jones, 46.3 ov), 10-136 (Hurdle, 49.6 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ AJ Ireland 8 3 22 3 2.75 CB Mpofu 10 2 22 2 2.20 T Mupariwa 5 2 15 1 3.00 GB Brent 5 1 12 0 2.40 E Chigumbura 4 0 20 1 5.00 SC Williams 5 1 13 0 2.60 P Utseya 10 3 19 1 1.90 KM Dabengwa 3 1 5 2 1.66 Zimbabwe innings T Duffin c Smith b Mukuddem 1 V Sibanda c & b Hurdle 2 CJ Chibhabha c Borden b Leverock 30 SC Williams not out 72 E Chigumbura c Borden b Leverock 4 S Matsikenyeri not out 21 Extras (lb 1, w 3, nb 3) 7 Total (4 wickets; 29 overs) 137 Did not bat: P Utseya, GB Brent, BRM Taylor, KM Dabengwa, CB Mpofu, T Mupariwa, AJ Ireland Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Sibanda, 1.5 ov), 2-5 (Duffin, 2.2 ov), 3-78 (Chibhabha, 18.5 ov), 4-93 (Chigumbura, 22.1 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ KAD Hurdle 5 0 21 1 4.20 S Mukuddem 5 1 14 1 2.80 RDM Leverock 10 2 54 2 5.40 SKW Kelly 4 1 17 0 4.25 DCC Borden 5 0 30 0 6.00
Comments
zimbabwe did well and sean willams is a real excitement for the future of zimbabwe cricket