Chevrons a match away from history

THE rains may turn out to be the catalyst in the on-going ODI series between the Chevrons and visiting Pakistan at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe were left one win away from registering their first-ever series victory over Pakistan in one-day internationals after winning the opener by 80 runs (D/L Method) on Sunday after rains interrupted play.

While the weather forecast indicates that it will not rain, should play be affected before a result can be declared, the hosts may be left close to a series win or draw.

The Chevrons, who lead the three-match ODI series 1-0 with two matches left could be poised to make history against a Pakistani side that has always enjoyed the better of them in this format.

The second match is scheduled for today.

However, there have been fears of rain as the Bulawayo’s skies have been overcast since Saturday evening. Sunday’s opener was brought to a premature end by a heavy downpour. There were also light showers yesterday.

Temperatures are set to rise to a maximum of 28 degrees between 11am and 12 noon.

Rain is expected on Thursday for the series finale with a 50 percent chance of precipitation.

Today’s second encounter could be an enthralling match with all to play for from both sides. A win for the Chevrons will see them take an unassailable 2-0 lead while the visitors will be hoping to level the series and leave all to play for in the decider on Thursday.

Sunday’s thrilling win was Zimbabwe’s first win over Pakistan in ODIs in nine years, having last done so in Harare in 2015. It was Zimbabwe’s first ODI win of the year having last registered victory during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in July last year.

Their last win in 50-over cricket was against Oman at Queens Sports Club. Since then, the Chevrons lost a three-match series against Ireland and Sri Lanka by identical 2-0 scores.

Sikandar Raza, who was named player of the match in the opening game said they are hoping to seal the series in today’s game. Raza said there are certain aspects that they need to work on if they are to win matches.

“In the Bulawayo wicket, you have to sort of, graft, so if you could graft better on these wickets you put your team and yourself in a very good position to get a good score and more so, the team is on the way to achieving the targets that we set. These are the small things that we want to get right and have to get right because in every game that we play the graph has to go up and only then do you win games.

“We have one hand on the trophy, so we just want to make sure that we come out on Tuesday and try to seal the series inshallah (if Allah wills it),” said Raza after Sunday’s encounter.

Following their victory over Pakistan on Sunday, the Chevrons moved two places up on the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI team rankings.

Zimbabwe jumped to position 11, leapfrogging Ireland who dropped one place down to number 12 and Scotland who also dropped one place to 13th place.

The Chevrons now have 1 320 points and a rating of 53. Pakistan maintained their third place standing behind India and Australia in number one and two, respectively.

Richard Ngarava’s unexpected brilliance with the bat, alongside Raza’s impressive all-round shift, propelled Zimbabwe to victory in the first game.

Ngarava delivered a career-best knock of 48 runs as he played a crucial role in lifting the hosts to a competitive total after a middle-order collapse.

His bold counter-attack, with the Chevrons struggling on 125/7, supported by Raza’s composed 39 off 56 balls, turned the game around.

The duo’s vital 62-run stand for the eighth wicket shifted momentum, guiding Zimbabwe past the 200 mark before they were bowled out for 205 in 40,2 overs.

Zimbabwe’s defence got off to the best possible start as fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani struck early.

The lanky bowler dismissed Pakistan’s openers inside five overs. He had both Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique caught behind for 11 and one run respectively.

Raza went on to complete his all-round performance by taking two wickets for just seven runs in three overs. Sean Williams also had another brilliant spell, finishing with figures of 2/12 in six overs.

Pakistan found the going tough with the bat and their top scorer was skipper Mohammad Rizwan with an unbeaten 19 runs from 43 balls. Kumran Ghulam made 17 runs from 18 deliveries.

Proceeds from Sunday’s game were donated to KidzCan Zimbabwe —an organisation working towards increasing the survival rate of childhood cancer in the country. Raza also donated his player of the match prize to a child cancer-survivor who dreams of becoming a doctor one day.

Today’s game is scheduled to start at 9.30am with gate charges pegged at US$3 for the rest of the ground and US$10 for the grandstand. –— @brandon_malvin