Zimbabwe beats Canada by 175 runs

Zimbabwe beats Canada by 175 runs

 

 

Canada chased down the 299 target set by Zimbabwe in an amateur manner, shot out for 123. Left-arm spinner Ray Price (3-16) and off-spinner Prosper Utseya (2-24) faced no resistance from the associate team batsmen in a Group A league game on Monday. Zimbabwe sealed victory by 175 runs to pick two points in World Cup 2011. Opener John Davison, oldest participant in the event at 40 years, was Canada’s biggest disappointment with a wild heave as he was bowled for zero. Nitish Kumar, youngest at 16, walked into Price’s trap and tapped back a slower ball.

 

Ruvindu Gunasekera displayed patience and spunk over 64 balls for 24. The lone Canada batsmen with some spark, his success came as a breather following repeated shocks for Canada with three frontline batsmen gone by the sixth over and seven runs on board.. He forced umpire Asad Rauf to reverse a leg-before decision off Utseya. The ball rolled onto the front leg with the left-hander crouched forward at full stretch.

Davison, one-time holder of fastest WC century record, returned to the pavilion in a hurry. Nitish followed his senior into the dressing room two overs later. He misread a slower one from Price and an uppish drive was pouched with glee. Captain Ashish Bagri tried a paddle-sweep and holed a catch to square-leg. Canada slipped further down the chute to 66-6, negating a spirited effort by bowlers, among whom leg-spinner Balaji Rao stood out with 4-57 in 10 overs.

 

Bagai lost the toss but won mind games out in the middle. The sight of a burly leg-spinner Rao bounding in from over the wicket triggered strange reactions from batsmen. Taibu went for the slog-sweep and spooned a catch, Lamb played the late cut and dragged the ball onto his stumps. Ervine and Chidumbara perished to bat-pad catches by an alert Canada captain/wicket-keeper, whose best effort was a shuffle forward from behind the sticks towards forward short-leg then a tumble.

The match began with a UDRS on first ball, umpire Bruce Oxenford ruled Brendon Taylor out LBW but it was referred by the batsman.

Replays showed the ball had swung in after pitching to strike the front pad and Chohan had struck. The finger went up again when opener Coventry drive and missed in the fourth over bowled by Baidwan, this time the batsman walked back.

Umpire Rauf came into the picture when Taibu challenged a leg-before decision and replays showed the batsman had connected in a sweep attempt against leg-spinner Rao.

Taibu orchestrated the recovery with firm drives, eight fours lacing his 50 off 45 balls for a 100 stand (105 balls) with left-hander

Ervine, whose powerful hitting off spinners fetched him two sixes against Davison, one swung over mid-wicket and second into the long-on stands. Bagai pouched a bat-pad chance to disrupt the 181-run third wicket stand and produced another tumbling catch almost at forward short leg to send back counterpart Chigumbura. Rao’s second victim was Taibu, who when on 98, paid the penalty for a slog-sweep. Rao's third victim was Lamb who chopped on. Sean Williams ended up as victim number four.

 

Scores

Zimbabwe: B Taylor lbw b Chohan 0 (1b) C Coventry lbw b Baidwan 4 (10b) T Taibu c Cheema b Rao 98 (99b, 9x4) C Ervine c Bagai b Rao 85 (81b, 6x4, 2x6) E Chigumbura c Bagai b Cheema 5 (8b, 1x4) S Williams c Bagai b Rao 30 (25b, 3x4) C Lamb b Rao 11 (13b, 1x4) P Utseya c Hansra b Cheema 22 (29b, 2x4) A Cremer b Baidwan 26 (23b, 2x4) R Price (no) 10 (6b, 2x4) C Mpofu (no) 3 95b)

Extras (b2, nb1, w1) 4. Total (nine wkts, 50 overs) 298

Fall of wkts: 1-0, 2-7, 3-188, 4-193, 5-201, 6-219, 7-240, 8-281, 9-284.

Canada bowling: K Chohan 10-0-44-2 H Baidwan 9-0-47-2 A Hansra 4-0-41-0 R Cheema 9-0-51-1 B Rao 10-0-57-4 J Davison 8-0-56-0

Canada: J Davison b Price 0 (8b) N Kumar c & b Price 1 (10b) R Gunasekera b Lamb 24 (64b, 2x4) A Bagai c Williams b Price 0 (1) J Hansra st Taibu b Utseya 20 (41b, 1x4, 1x6) R Cheema c Cremer b Usteya 14 (10b, 2x4, 1x6) Z Sarkari st Taibu b Lamb 21 (48b, 2x4) T Gordon lbw b Cremer 7 (20b, 1x4) K Chohan lbw b Cremer 8 (22b, 1x4) H Baidwin (no) 13 (23b, 1x4) B Rao b Cremer 1 (6b)

Extras (w9) 9. Total (all out, 42.1 overs) 123

Fall of wkts: 1-1, 2-7, 3-7, 4-50, 5-50, 6-66, 7-78, 8-97, 9-122

Zimbabwe bowling: C Mpofu 5-1-12-0 R Price 8-4-16-3 P Utseya 7-0-24-2 G Lamb 8-0-29-2 A Cremer 9.1-1-31-3 S Williams 5-0-11-0.