South Africa 405/0 (Smith 223*, McKenzie 169*), Bangladesh yet to bat.
Monthly Archive for February, 2008
Sri Lanka 221 (50 overs; Dilshan 62, Bracken 4/29), Australia 208 (48.1 overs; Gilchrist 83, Amerasinghe 3/44). Sri Lanka won by 13 runs.
Zimbabwe Chevrons claimed a hard-fought win over the Nashua Dolphins at Harare Sports Club yesterday - not enough to lift them off the foot of the MTN Domestic Championship table, but enough to keep them mathematically within range of the semi-finals should their remaining matches go the right way. Dolphins won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 182/9 as Zimbabwe’s bowlers did a good job of containing them. Kyle Smit scored 46, while Prosper Utseya took 2/31 as the home side took advantage of a pitch that had some extra life in it, courtesy of some rain earlier in the day.
Batting conditions improved as the pitch dried out, giving Chevrons an advantage as the team batting second, but in typically Zimbabwean style they almost blew their chance as early losses left them on 78/4 at one point. A fifth-wicket stand of 67 between Brendan Taylor (44) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (58*) gave the home side enough of a grounding to see them home. Johann Louw was the best of the Dolphins with the ball, claiming 4/29, but that wasn’t enough to save the match for the visitors.
Scorecard below the cut. Chevrons’ next match is on Sunday (2nd March), against the Lions at Harare Sports Club.
Nashua Dolphins 182/9 (45/45 overs; Smit 46, Utseya 2/31), Zimbabwe Chevrons 185/7 (44.1/45 overs; Matsikenyeri 58*, Louw 4/29). Chevrons win by 3 wickets.
If you’ve been following Steven Price’s articles for CricInfo lately, you’ll have seen his criticism in the most recent piece that the buildings at the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy have yet to be rebuilt, following Mark Vermeulen’s handiwork. I have to say, my first though on reading that was to remember just how hard it can be to obtain building materials in Zimbabwe at the moment (I doubt the Academy is the only idle building site in the country), and sure enough ZC have responded to the piece with a statement:
“The tender for the building was awarded at the end of last year and construction work is underway now. The contractors are doing the brick work. Subject to weather and the availability of materials, we expect the construction to be through by the end of April.
“The next site meeting is on Monday morning and will include senior ZC management including our facilities consultant, the main contractor and their mechanical and electrical sub-contractors, quantity surveyors and the project manager and structural engineers.”
They go on to state that other buildings at Country Club are being used in the meantime - which in itself raises the question of “used by whom”? ZC point out that Kevin Curran is the assigned Academy coach and currently has a squad of 10 to work with, but as ever CricInfo is quick to quote an anonymous source saying otherwise:
“Where is the evidence of anyone being nurtured as Chingoka tells the outside world? Is there a list of people available? If they are in the academy, then it must be taking place in private.”
A mystery for another time.
CricInfo - Academy rebuild on course insists Zimbabwe board
Sean Williams has picked up an ankle injury that has ruled him out of today’s MTN Domestic Championship match against the Dolphins. Vusimuzi Sibanda and Gary Brent have also been dropped for the match. In their places, Taurai Muzarabani, Brendan Taylor and Chamu Chibhabha are recalled.
Zimbabwe Cricket - Williams out of Chevrons MTN match
The recently-postponed Faithwear one-day series has been rescheduled to April, according to CricInfo - although as yet they’ve had no confirmation from ZC of this. The series was moved to make sure that national side players, currently playing in the MTN Domestic Championship, would be available to play. Their absence would have left the quality of play in the series unacceptably low.
CricInfo - Zimbabwe Cricket postpones one-day tournament
Malaysia U19 may have scored one upset win against Zimbabwe’s youngsters, but there was no repeat in the first play-off for 13th-16th places in the competition - saving Zimbabwe from the humiliation of finishing last. Batting first, Zim scored 186/6 from 34 overs (match duration reduced do to rain), with Daniel Landman scoring a rapid-fire 45. Solomon Mire (36), Peter Moor (37) and Tinashe Chimbambo (28) also made decent contributions. For the Malaysians, Nik Azril Arifin took 2/23.
Zim’s bowlers, who have far outperformed the batsmen in this tournament, ripped through the Malaysian top order, leaving them in early trouble at 3/15 before Aminuddin Ramly put up a fight - he eventually scored 70, but with none of the Malaysian batsmen passing 10, it wasn’t a match-winning innings. The hosts were bowled out for 142. Edzai Jaure was the best of the Zim bowlers with 3/39, while Kyle Jarvis, Daniel Landman and Stewart Matsika took two each.
Zimbabwe now meet the winner of Ireland v Namibia to decide 13th & 14th places in the tournament. Full scorecard for this match is below the cut.
Zimbabwe U19 186/6 (39/39 overs; Landman 45, Nik Azril Arifin 2/23), Malaysia U19 142 (28.5/39 overs; Aminuddin Ramly 70, Jaure 3/39). Zimbabwe U19 win by 44 runs.
The Indian Cricket League now has two ex-Zimbabwean players, after Murray Goodwin joined Heath Streak in the breakaway competition. The next run of the competition takes place between March and April. Both men have yet to be assigned to teams.
The Argus - Goodwin signs for Indian Cricket League
Sri Lanka 179 (47.1 overs; Kapugedera 57, Kumar 4/31), India 180/3 (32.2 overs; Tendulkar 63, Gambhir 63, Perera 1/17). India win by 7 wickets, will meet Australia in final.
They may not have qualified for the World Cup, but Zimbabwe’s women have put in a creditable performance in this tournament, securing 5th place after another convincing win over Scotland. Batting firs, Zimbabwe scored 236/6 from their 50 overs, with Yvonne Rainsford (69), Sinikiwe Mpofu (48) and Julia Chibhabha (48*) forming the backbone of the innings. For the Scots, Fiona Campbell took 2/44. Scotland were then skittled out for 75, with Julia Chibhabha taking 4/16 and Precious Marange 3/22 on the way to a convincing 161-run victory.
Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 236/5 (50 overs; Rainsford 69, Campbell 2/44), Scotland 75 (32.5 overs; ‘Extras’ 27, Anderson 13, Chibhabha 4/16). Zimbabwe win by 161 runs.
Continue reading ‘Zimbabwe Women Finish 5th in World Cup Qualifiers’