Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE maintained their perfect record in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers as they eased past Namibia with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory in a hugely entertaining final at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
After both teams had qualified for the T20 World Cup on Thursday, yesterday’s game was to decide who took the silverware.
And the hosts were in no mood to spoil the party mood that has engulfed Harare Sports Club in the last week of action.
For Zimbabwe, they came into the tie hoping to maintain their momentum as Afghanistan standby to meet them in their next assignment.
Zimbabwe will take on the Asian side in a one-off Test and three T20 Internationals series later this month.
Namibia, on the other hand, came into the final hoping to avenge their 2-1 T20 series loss to Zimbabwe just before the qualifiers.
Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe’s skipper, won the toss and immediately sent Namibia in to bat as the Chevrons fancied their chances at
chasing. Credit should go to the Zimbabwe bowlers as they put in quite the shift to restrict Namibia to 167 for six from their allotted 20 overs.
Richard Ngarava was the Namibians chief tormentor as the 27-year-old seamer claimed three wickets for 26 runs.
Ngarava came into the match in dire need for a starring performance and claimed his first wicket as early as the fourth ball of Namibia’s innings.
Opener Jan Frylinck was the Zimbabwe seamer’s first victim when he had him caught by Bradley Evans for four runs off three balls.
That dismissal seemed to indicate that it would be the Chevrons’ day, as wickets fell at regular intervals.
Evans, Wellington Masakadza and Ryan Burl soon joined in the party as all three claimed a wicket each, pegging back Namibia each time they seemed to get some sort of momentum.
Namibia’s fight-back only came from the duo of skipper Gerhard Erasmus and Louren Steenkamp, whose 38 runs off 32 balls and 40 runs off 27 balls saw the visitors put a competitive 167 runs on the board.
They found assistance from JJ Smit, whose 23 runs off 20 balls ensured Namibia’s middle and tail frustrated the Zimbabwean bowlers.
However, with the form the Chevrons have been in during this tournament, anything under 200 runs was always going to fall short. Still, Namibia did their best to turn the tie into a contest.
The visitors removed Zimbabwe’s danger man Brian Bennett early and before he could do any damage.
The 21 year old could only muster 15 runs off 11 balls before he was caught by Eramus off the bowling of Ben Shikongo.
What Bennett’s dismissal did was peg Zimbabwe back on the required run rate.
Tadiwanashe Marumani and Dion Myers then set about to do some damage control as the two put up 88 runs for the second wicket. The second-wicket partnership brought Zimbabwe back into the match.
Unfortunately, Namibia fought back again and almost threatened to turn the match on its head.
First, Bernard Scholtz removed Myers for 44 runs off 33 when he clean bowled the youngster.
Scholtz then struck again with the next ball when he had Raza caught by Erasmus to remove the Zimbabwe talisman for a golden duck.
If Bennett has been the Chevrons’ danger man, then Burl has been “Mr Consistent’’ for Zimbabwe in this tournament.
After Raza’s dismissal, Burl then joined Marumani at the crease and the two safely guided Zimbabwe to victory.
The two put up 50 runs for the fourth wicket as Marumani top scored with an unbeaten 74 runs off 61 balls, while Burl chipped in with an entertaining 18 runs off 10 balls.
After the match, Chevrons coach Justin Sammons was all smiles as he celebrated both the T20 World Cup qualification and his charges’ perfect record in the tournament.
“That is what we wanted to achieve when we came into the tournament,” said Sammons.
“Goal number one was to make sure we win every game.
“And, if we are doing that, then qualifying, which was obviously the main objective at the end of the day, would take care of itself.
“But, yeah, I am really chuffed with the fact that we have gone the whole tournament unbeaten and that we got over the line in a close game here.”
Sammons also paid special tribute to the player of the tournament, Brian Bennett.
“Partnering him with Marumani has been good. He has given him (Bennett) that sort of support at the top. The whole bowling unit has been superb as well.
“I think the thing is, the reality is everybody has chipped in at key stages.”
