Zim destroy Canada

wickets as Zimbabwe crushed hapless Canada by 175 runs for their first win in Group A yesterday.
Zimbabwe were indebted to former captain Taibu (98) and Craig Ervine (85) for posting 298-9 before dismissing Canada for a paltry 123, with left-arm spinner Price finishing with 3-16 off eight tight overs.
“We have always said that it takes two batsmen to really get set and make a decent score then we can build a total to win,” Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura said.
“It was fantastic to see Taibs and Craig bat as well as they did and then for the spinners, our strength, to wrap up the match. But we are not getting ahead of ourselves.
“Our target before the tournament was just to get better with each game, and that is what we will aim to do.”
Chigumbura also said victory had reignited their chances of making the quarter-finals.
“We are still in the running for the next stage. The big game is against New Zealand, we will have to put in our best performance,” he said.
Canada captain Ashish Bagai said he had been happy to field first.
“We started well, but we went on to bowl both sides of the wicket.
They then kept getting wickets every over,” said Bagai.
Zimbabwe, who lost to Australia in their opener, virtually reduced the match to a no-contest when Price, sharing the new ball for a second successive game, took three wickets in his opening three overs.
The spinner bowled John Davison, the oldest player in the tournament at 40, before accounting for 16-year-old Nitish Kumar, the youngest player to feature in a World Cup, and skipper Ashish Bagai as Canada teetered at 7-3.
Kumar, who needed permission from his school to take a month off for the event, contributed just one before offering a return catch.
Leg-spinner Graeme Cremer (3-31), and off-spinners Prosper Utseya (2-24) and Greg Lamb (2-29) then built on Price’s superb effort as Canada continued to struggle against spin to suffer their second successive defeat.
Zubin Surkari (26), Ruvindu Gunasekera (24) and Jimmy Hansra (20) were the main scorers in Canada’s dismal batting performance.

Taibu and Ervine earlier dominated the Canadian attack with impressive strokeplay to add 181 for the third wicket after their team had lost both the openers for seven runs.
Zimbabwe made a shaky start after electing to bat as Khurram Chohan trapped Brendan Taylor lbw off the first delivery of the match and Harvir Baidwan dismissed Charles Coventry for four.
But Canada had to wait nearly 28 overs for their next success as Taibu and Ervine applied themselves.
India-born leg-spinner Balaji Rao broke the partnership when he had Ervine caught behind, but not before the batsman had smashed two sixes and six fours in an 81-ball knock for his second half-century in one-day internationals.
Rao finished with a career-best 4-57 off 10 overs.
Taibu looked set to complete his third one-day hundred before slog-sweeping Rao to Davison at deep mid-wicket after hitting nine fours in his 99-ball knock.
“I wasn’t really thinking about getting to 100. I was really thinking about the position of the team,” said Taibu.
When asked about the team’s score, he said: “We’re quite happy. That was our target in the morning, to get around 290/300 and anything past that was a bonus.”
Taibu paid tribute to lessons learned from Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly.
The Zimbabwean played with the Australian and Indian in his time with Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders and he believes his short spell alongside them made him a better player.
“Sharing the dressing room with great players such as Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly was a great experience. I learnt a lot about the game from them,” said Taibu.
“It helped me improve as a player.
“T20 has helped in piling up big scores. Also, with the introduction of the batting powerplay and innovative shots, you get bigger scores.”
Sean Williams (30), Cremer (26) and Utseya (22) also made useful contributions to help their side set a stiff target.
Zimbabwe’s third match is against New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Scoreboard
Zimbabwe
B. Taylor lbw b Chohan 0
C. Coventry lbw b Baidwan 4
T. Taibu c Davison b Rao 98
C. Ervine c Bagai b Rao 85
E. Chigumbura c Bagai b Cheema 5
S. Williams c Bagai b Rao 30
G. Lamb b Rao 11
P. Utseya c Hansra b Chohan 22
G. Cremer b Baidwan 26
R. Price not out 10
C. Mpofu not out 3
Extras (lb2, nb1, w1) 4
Total (for nine wickets; 50 overs) 298
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Taylor), 2-7 (Coventry), 3-188 (Ervine), 4-193 (Chigumbura), 5-201 (Taibu), 6-219 (Lamb), 7-240 (Williams), 8-281 (Utseya), 9-284 (Cremer).
Bowling: Chohan 10-0-44-2 (nb1, w1), Baidwan 9-0-47-2, Hansra 4-0-41-0, Cheema 9-0-51-1, Rao 10-0-57-4, Davision 8-0-56-0.
Canada
J. Davison b Price 0
N. Kumar c and b Price 1
R. Gunasekera b Lamb 24
A. Bagai c Williams b Price 0
J. Hansra st Taibu b Utseya 20
R. Cheema c Cremer b Utseya 14
Z. Surkari st Taibu b Lamb 26
T. Gordon lbw b Cremer 7
K. Chohan lbw b Cremer 8
H. Baidwan not out 13
B. Rao b Cremer 1
Extras (w9) 9
Total (for all out; 42.1 overs) 123
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Davison), 2-7 (Kumar), 3-7 (Bagai), 4-50 (Hansra), 5-50 (Gunasekera), 6-66 (Cheema), 7-78 (Gordon), 8-97 (Chohan), 9-122 (Surkari), 10-123 (Rao).
Bowling: Mpofu 5-1-12-0 (w1), Price 8-4-16-3, Utseya 7-0-24-2 (w2), Lamb 8-0-29-2 (w6), Cremer 9.1-1-31-3, Williams 5-0-11-0.
Result: Zimbabwe won by 175 runs
Toss: Zimbabwe
Umpires: Asad Rauf (PAK) and Bruce Oxenford (AUS)
TV umpire: Steve Davis (AUS)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)