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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
HISTORY was made at the Riverway Stadium in Townsville yesterday when Zimbabwe stunned Australia by three wickets in the third and final One Day International cricket encounter to record their first ever triumph over the Aussies on their home soil.
Australia were bowled out for 141 in 31 overs and Zimbabwe reached 142/7 in 39 overs to win the match with 66 balls to spare.
While Zimbabwe lost the series 2-1, yesterday’s win came with a valuable 10 points as the match was part of the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup Super League, the qualification pathway for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India.
Zimbabwe remain second from bottom in the 13-team log standings with 45 points, only better than Netherlands.
In their 14th meeting in ODI cricket Down Under, Zimbabwe defeated Australia for the first time ever on Australian soil. Before that, Zimbabwe had only beaten Australia twice, the first time at the 1983 Cricket World Cup when a Zimbabwean team led by Duncan Fletcher triumphed by 13 runs at Trent Bridge, England.
The second win over the Aussies came on 31 August 2014, Zimbabwe prevailed by three wickets on that day at Harare Sports Club.
Leg spinner Ryan Burl was the hero for Zimbabwe as he picked five wickets for 10 runs in three overs, his maiden five wicket haul in international cricket.
Burl, who deservedly walked away with the Player of the Match accolade picked up the wickets of Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
Bradley Evans had two wickets for 35 runs in six overs and the pace bowler could even afford a maiden against such a dangerous Australian batting line-up.
Chasing down such low totals is always tricky and Zimbabwe did stumble along the way but skipper Regis Chakabva made sure they crossed the line with an unbeaten 37 off 72 deliveries and was at the crease to see Evans hit the winning run that ensured Zimbabwe of victory.
What was even more remarkable about Zimbabwe’s win over Australia yesterday is that it was achieved without four key
players, Craig Ervine, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara who are all injured.
Muzarabani was part of the touring squad but never got to play as he is still recovering from injury.
Since Dave Houghton took over as Zimbabwe coach in June, the Chevrons have done wonders. First they qualified for next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, got the better of Bangladesh in both ODIs and T20Is, came close in the last ODI against India and now they have beaten Australia for the first time ever Down Under in ODIs.
Australian pace bowler Mitchell Starc picked one wicket in Zimbabwe’s run chase to become the quickest ever bowler to 200 one-day international wickets, eclipsing a 23-year benchmark set by off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq.
In his 102nd ODI on Saturday in Townsville, Starc dismissed Burl when the left hander spooned at catch to Cameron Green at mid-off to reach 200 scalps in two fewer matches than the Pakistani great (104). -@Mdawini_29
Online Reporter