West Indies levelled the series against Zimbabwe 1-1 after a commanding performance in Harare - although the loss of captain Chris Gayle to a hamstring injury could have significant consequences for the rest of their tour. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field, and gained an early advantage with the dismissal of Devon Smith in the first over, but from there the traffic was mostly one-way as the West Indies treated the Zimbabwean bowlers with far less deference than they had during the first ODI. Runako Morton and Gayle formed the backbone of the image, with a partnership of 120 before Gayle was forced to retire injured, but there were also useful contributions from Samuels and Rampaul that saw the visitors run up an impressive 286 from their 50 overs. Chamu Chibhabha took 2/36 for Zimbabwe, while Ray Price's impressive economy rate of 3.90/over helped ensure the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Zimbabwe's target of 287 was difficult, but not impossible - unfortunately, the side's old bugbear of fragile batting once again proved their downfall. Vusi Sibanda and Brendan Taylor started the innings well enough, with Taylor in particular keeping the scoring up with the required rate - but after he fell to a rush of blood in the 10th over (1/42), it was all downhill as Zimbabwe retreated into their old "bat out the innings" mode - although as it turned out, with wickets falling regularly throughout the innings, they couldn't even manage that. Stuart Matsikenyeri put up more resistance than most, picking up 37 runs, but it wasn't enough to prevent Zimbabwe falling to a massive 110 run loss. If West Indies were guilty of complacency on Friday, they made no such mistakes today, and Zimbabwe paid the price.
With three matches left in the series, there's still time for Zimbabwe to pull a few more surprised out of the hat - but if they want to repeat the heroics of the first ODI, they'll have to try a lot harder than they did today.
West Indies 286/9 (Morton 79, Chibhabha 2/36), Zimbabwe 176 (44.3 overs; Matsikenyeri 37, Lewis 3/43). West Indies win by 110 runs, series tied 1-1 with 3 to play. Full scorecard below the cut.
West Indies innings
CH Gayle retired hurt 58
DS Smith b Chigumbura 2
RS Morton c Chibhabha b Utseya 79
S Chanderpaul run out (Utseya) 12
MN Samuels c Taibu b Dabengwa 43
DJ Bravo c Taylor b Dabengwa 10
D Ramdin c Chigumbura b Chibhabha 16
RN Lewis c Masakadza b Chibhabha 19
R Rampaul not out 26
JE Taylor c Chigumbura b Brent 3
DBL Powell run out (Brent) 1
Extras (lb 4, w 11, nb 2) 17
Total (all out; 50 overs; 202 mins) 286
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Smith, 0.6 ov), 1-123* (Gayle, retired not out),
2-149 (Chanderpaul, 29.5 ov), 3-175 (Morton, 34.6 ov),
4-214 (Bravo, 40.3 ov), 5-222 (Samuels, 42.1 ov),
6-251 (Ramdin, 46.6 ov), 7-274 (Lewis, 48.1 ov),
8-284 (Taylor, 49.2 ov), 9-286 (Powell, 49.6 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
E Chigumbura 7 0 30 1 4.28 (1nb, 2w)
GB Brent 8 1 47 1 5.87 (1w)
CJ Chibhabha 4 0 36 2 9.00 (1nb, 1w)
H Masakadza 3 0 17 0 5.66 (1w)
RW Price 10 0 39 0 3.90 (3w)
P Utseya 10 0 56 1 5.60
KM Dabengwa 8 0 57 2 7.12 (1w)
Zimbabwe innings (target: 287 runs from 50 overs)
V Sibanda c Ramdin b Taylor 12
BRM Taylor c Ramdin b Powell 27
CJ Chibhabha c Samuels b Rampaul 11
T Taibu b Bravo 6
H Masakadza c Ramdin b Bravo 0
S Matsikenyeri c Ramdin b Lewis 37
KM Dabengwa c Taylor b Powell 24
E Chigumbura c Bravo b Lewis 2
P Utseya b Samuels 23
GB Brent c Ramdin b Lewis 12
RW Price not out 0
Extras (b 6, lb 5, w 10, nb 1) 22
Total (all out; 44.3 overs) 176
Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Taylor, 9.5 ov), 2-55 (Sibanda, 13.4 ov),
3-55 (Chibhabha, 14.4 ov), 4-57 (Masakadza, 16.6 ov),
5-65 (Taibu, 20.5 ov), 6-124 (Dabengwa, 31.2 ov),
7-131 (Chigumbura, 32.2 ov), 8-140 (Matsikenyeri, 34.3 ov),
9-170 (Utseya, 43.3 ov), 10-176 (Brent, 44.3 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
R Rampaul 8 2 26 1 3.25 (4w)
DBL Powell 10 0 39 2 3.90 (1w)
JE Taylor 8 1 17 1 2.12 (2w)
DJ Bravo 5 0 18 2 3.60 (2w)
MN Samuels 4 0 22 1 5.50 (1w)
RN Lewis 9.3 0 43 3 4.52 (1nb)
Comments
Verry Dissapointing ...I made an effort to find an Indian channel ( at a friends Place ) that was showing the match (in South Africa). All good teams loose though and I hope the guys pick themselves up. New Zealand got clubbed yesterday so theis is sport we win and loose the guys should just fight more...and we do need agression....we must attack Modern one day cricket scoring rate is 6 an over we have to aim for 280 upwards in every game unless if its a very bad pitch ...20/20 has changed the way people bat.