Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo
A TENDAI Chatara five-wicket haul saw Zimbabwe Select win the first one-day match against Pakistan ‘A’ by 24 runs at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
The experienced Chatara took five scalps in his nine-over spell as the home side bowled out their opponents for 210 runs in 47 overs after they had set them a target of 235 runs to win. Zimbabwe after being sent in to bat first were bowled out for 234 runs in 45,4 overs.
It took a special Ryan Burl innings to help Zimbabwe reach a defendable total. Burl, who fell for 69 runs off 68 balls, put up a 90-run sixth-wicket partnership with Clive Madande after a poor display from the top order. Madande went on to score 34 runs from 55 balls to save their side from humiliation.
Captain Wellington Masakadza also came in handy with the bat as he chipped in with 25 runs after facing 41 deliveries. The other Zimbabwean batters who managed to put something on the board were Sean Williams and Bradley Evans who made 20 and 19 runs respectively. Pakistan’s Aamer Jamal starred with the ball for the visitors, finishing with figures of 4/35 in eight overs while Mir Hamza took three scalps for 37 runs in 10 overs. Shahnawaz Dahani and Mehran Mumtaz took two and one wicket respectively for the visitors.
In their defence, Zimbabwe Select managed to get an early breakthrough with a wicket of opening batter, Saim Ayub who was Chatara’s first of the game. Chatara took the wickets of Pakistan’s three top batters before going on to clean up the tail, taking the last two scalps that fell. He conceded 37 runs in his spell.
Chatara was supported by the skipper, Masakadza who also produced a splendid bowling display to finish with the figures of 3/32 in 10 overs. The other two wickets that fell were taken by Blessing Muzarabani and Wesley Madhevere who both gave away 36 and 19 runs respectively. There were no half-centuries from the visitors with three of their batters falling in the 40s.
Mubasir Khan top-scored with 49 runs, whereas Haseebullah Khan and Kamran Ghulam scored 45 and 42 runs respectively as Zimbabwe Select took a 1-0 lead in the six-match series. The second match is set to take place tomorrow at the same venue.
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) arranged the one-dayers to help Zimbabwe fine-tune for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 that will be staged across four venues in Harare and Bulawayo from 18 June to 9 July.
The event will see 10 teams competing for the two remaining places at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India later in the year. – @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter