Zimpapers Logo

an opening one-day international cricket match yesterday.
Set a modest target of 248, Zimbabwe finished on 242/7 and captain Brendan Taylor conceded that they lost the game in the penultimate over of the day.
In a post-match speech, Taylor said:

“We let it slip in that second-last over. Credit to Pakistan, they held their nerve a little bit better than us. over all a pretty good game. We will hold our heads high, and take positives. Me not getting out would have been nice. Vusi was also going nice. But it’s the game of cricket for you. Credit to them.”
His Pakistani counterpart, Misbah-ul-Haq admitted that they had not scored enough runs to win the match.
“We were 20-30 runs short. On crucial stages, we kept losing wickets. That’s why they restricted us. Ajmal is our main weapon, especially on the slow tracks, but the pacers did a great job. Tanvir with the new ball, Cheema in the middle overs, and Junaid, who was disappointing at start, came back well in the final over.”

Zimbabwe opened their batting with Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibhabha for the first time but the partnership yielded just five runs in 15 balls.
Chibhabha had made just one run before being cleaned up, beaten by an outstanding delivery by Sohail Tanvir, which claimed his off stump.
Vusi and Hamilton Masakadza added 48 in 67 balls for the second wicket before Masakadza was adjudged lbw to Mohammad Hafeez .
Masakadza made 15 off 27 balls. Captain Brendan Taylor joined Sibanda and the mission was to revive the innings and bring Zimbabwe back into contention.
They did a good job of it, adding 58 off 80 balls for the third wicket. Unfortunately Vusi was not able to convert a half century into three figures yet again.

Vusi fell after 26,3 overs – caught and bowled by Aizaz Cheema for 73 off 89 balls (six fours and two sixes).
Vusi was keen to send the ball down the ground but could only manage a thick edge that hit his back pad and went straight to Cheema who could not believe his luck.
It was a huge wicket and the Pakistanis celebrated as if they had won the match while Sibanda lay on the ground, writhing in agony amid indications that the ball had hit his knee.
Physiotherapist Amato Machikicho had to help Vusi off the ground although preliminary indications were that it was nothing serious.

Taylor and Tatenda Taibu pushed the score to 174 but their partnership was broken after 40,3 overs as Taibu was done by a slower ball from Cheema, top edging the ball to Younis Khan at long-off and this might have been the turning point.
Taibu scored 26 off 43 balls.

Malcom Waller came in next and made just 10 from seven balls, making way for all-rounder Elton Chigumbura.
Zimbabwe’s hope now lay in the hands of captain Taylor and his predecessor Elton Chigumbura.
The batting powerplay ended after the 47th over and Zimbabwe still needed 25 to win off the last three overs.
Ajmal came back for his 10th over and it turned out to be the key over for Pakistan as he conceded just three runs.

Zimbabwe’s hopes all but ended after 48,4 overs when debutant Cheema grabbed the vital wicket of Taylor.
Taylor went for a slog but ended up top-edging it for a simple catch and he was out for 84 off 103 balls.
In the end Zimbabwe fell short by five runs for an agonising defeat.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.
The tourists brought back Shoaib Malik after more than a year on the sidelines. Also making a return were Sohail Tanvir, who last played in February, and Imran Farhat, who last played in November last year. Aizaz Cheema was brought in for his ODI debut.

Faced with a flat wicket, the teams had three off spinners each with Prosper Utseya, Greg Lamb and Malcolm Waller for Zimbabwe while Pakistan had Mohammad Hafeez, Malik and Ajmal.
In the absence of Brian Vitori, Zimbabwe opened the bowling with Chris Mpofu and Raymond Price.
Price’s first over was a maiden and seemed to have put Pakistan under some pressure, which led to the first wicket at the start of the third over.

Farhat’s return to international cricket lasted just two balls as he was beaten by unexpected bounced and edged Mpofu to the wicketkeeper, Tatenda Taibu.
Hafeez and Younis Khan rebuild the innings and made 69 for the second wicket in 75 balls before the former departed.
Hafeez hit Prosper Utseya for 10 runs off the second and third balls of the 15th over but fell the next ball as his sweep shot found Vusi Sibanda at square leg – he made 26 off 49 balls.

It took another 10 overs for Zimbabwe to make a breakthrough and it was a big, big wicket as veteran Younis Khan fell for 78 off 72 balls.
Just when he looked like accelerating to a century, Khan ran himself out chasing a second run that was no there after 24,4 overs. After hitting the ball to midwicket, Khan was untroubled for the first run but looked undecided for the second one and he was found short as Waller’s throw was quick and Taibu did the rest.

Malik marked his return but he lasted just five balls as he fell for two. Taibu is one of the more athletic cricketers for Zimbabwe and he was at his best to produce the catch of the series.
Fifth ball of the 26th over, Elton Chigumbura’s ball was going down leg and Taibu judged it well and positioned himself in time to make a one-handed catch from Malik’s edge.
It was a moment for the cameras.

With Pakistan having rebuilt their innings with a 60-run partnership for the fifth wicket, Price did the damage by trapping well-placed Misbah-ul-Haq leg before wicket for 54 off 64 balls.
The Pakistan skipper had wanted to play the reverse sweep and a full, straight ball from Price beat the batsman’s bat and Misbah was gone.
Umar Akmal followed after 44,1 overs as his attempted pull found Utseya at midwicket for 36 runs off 59 balls.

This meant that all key batsmen would not be there for the batting powerplay which was taken in the 46th over.
There was a 36-run stand for the seventh wicket, which was broken in the final over when Adnan Akmal’s attempted Price reverse sweep gave Mpofu an easy catch at point -he had made 27.

In the end Pakistan made 247/7 off their allotted overs, a total way below what they looked set to make midway through their innings. For much of the game 280 looked to be the minimum while 300 was within reach.
Zimbabwe had done well to get the key wickets at crucial stages while the fielding was improved after the disappointments of the Test match at the same venue.