Online Reporter
Eddie Chikamhi-Zimpapers Sports Hub
BRIAN BENNETT was in scintillating form with the bat to blast Zimbabwe to a five-wicket win over Uganda in their opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
The Chevrons lived up to their pre-tournament favourites’ tag despite a poor start with the ball.
They had to rally back and eventually restricted their opponents to 152/9 after the Ugandans had won the toss and got off to a high-octane take-off.
But Zimbabwe were more determined in their chase as they raced to 157/5, to secure victory with 15 balls to spare.
Uganda won the toss and elected to bat first.
Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the East Africans were cruising at just over nine-an-over.
Their scoreboard kept on ticking with Raghav Dhawan (29 from 19), Sumeet Verma (45 from 32) and captain Riazat Ali Shah’s 35 from 24 balls.
But Brad Evans (3-19) and Blessing Muzarabani (3-20) kept the Ugandans in check.
Richard Ngarava finished with 2-37.
In response, Zimbabwe’s opening batsman Bennett struck a belligerent 72 runs from just 44 deliveries.
His knock included nine boundaries and three sixes.
Brendan Taylor also chipped in with a well-struck 39 while captain Sikandar Raza contributed 24 from 16 balls.
Raza believes the dominance over Uganda was a result of the intensive preparations and recent engagements with cricket’s big boys who include South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
The Chevrons might have lost heavily in those contests against South Africa and New Zealand but they chose to draw positives from the lessons they learnt the hard way.
And Raza reckons the lessons are beginning to pay off in the T20 Qualifier and subsequent assignments.
“I think it all boils down to the fact that we have played a lot of good cricket,” said Raza.
He also felt Zimbabwe were more comfortable with the bat.
“If you look at our graph had the game gone the distance, it could have been 190-200 and that’s something that we have done consistently over the last six-seven T20Is that we have played.
“So, suddenly we are keeping up with the momentum, keep going the way we are going. So, it’s nice that we are starting to play consistent cricket,” said Raza.
Zimbabwe will play Botswana in their second group match tomorrow.
And Raza expects more fluent performances going forward.
“First game is always nervy. So, hopefully the jitters are now out of the way. I think there is a lot of trust that we now have within ourselves and within the group as well.
“It’s quite nice that we have got the first win but most importantly I thought the way we went about our business; even when we had a difficult powerplay, how we clawed our way back with such belief and skill, it was really heartening to see, and of course the way Bennett started off and the way Brendan Taylor ended up having that great partnership really took the game away from them,” said Raza.
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