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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE were left stunned by the Netherlands after they lost their International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup Super-12, Group 2 encounter by five wickets at Adelaide Oval in Adelaide Australia, yesterday.

The defeat saw all hopes of Zimbabwe making it to the semifinals evaporate as they remain fourth on the log with three points. Only two teams from the two groups will make it to the semifinals. 

International Cricket Council

Coming into the match as favourites, the Chevrons won the toss and elected to bat first and were however restricted to their lowest total so far in the tournament, of 117 all out in 19.2 overs. The Dutch comfortably chased down the target with 12 balls left, finishing on 120-5 in exactly 18 overs.

Zimbabwe never recovered from losing Wessly Madhevere for one run in the second over with the score on nine runs. His opening partner, skipper Craig Ervine fell for three runs and Regis Chakabva, in at number three once again failed to get going after he fell for just five runs off 16 deliveries as Zimbabwe’s top order failed to produce the much needed runs. 

It was left to Sikandar Raza as well as Sean Williams to try and steady the innings. Raza top scored with 40 off 24 balls and Williams was second best with 28 from 23 deliveries but the experienced duo could not take Zimbabwe to a defendable total. 

Milton Shumba, who has also been struggling with the bat continued misfiring as he was caught at short midwicket for just two runs off three deliveries after mistiming his shot. Ryan Burl scored two runs as well and Luke Jongwe chipped in with six. For his nine runs, Richard Ngarava became the third leading run getter in the match for the Chevrons.

Paul van Meekeren took three wickets for the Dutch, conceding 29 runs in his four overs. Brandon Glover, Logan van Beek and Bas de Leede took two wickets each and Fred Klaassen took one wicket.

Regis Chakabva

Taking the first wicket in the fourth over, Stephan Myburgh dismissed by Blessing Muzarabani for eight, it looked as though the Chevrons will pull off one of the brilliant low score resistances. It was not to be after the second wicket partnership between Max O’Dowd and Tom Cooper proved too good for the Zimbabwean bowlers.

The stand was broken in the 13th over leaving Netherlands at 90-2. Player of the Match O’Dowd top scored with 52 runs whilst Cooper was out for 32 runs. Bas de Leede finished unbeaten with a run a ball 12 runs as the Dutch comfortably and successfully chased down the target with two full overs to spare. 

Sean Williams was the second highest run scorer for Zimbabwe with 28 runs

 Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava took two wickets each in their four overs while Jongwe picked up one. Jongwe’s wicket was number 50 in his T20 international career.

The defeat meant that the Chevrons’ dream of a semi-final appearance has come to an end as they prepare to face India on Sunday in their last group encounter of the World Cup. The match is scheduled to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

The match starts at 1000hrs Zimbabwean time. – @brandon_malvin