admin
Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe women’s cricket team were left to do a lot of soul-searching after falling to hosts Namibia Women by seven wickets in the opening match of the Capricorn Women’s Tri-series in Windhoek yesterday.
Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano had a brilliant knock upfront with 80 runs from 59 balls but she found no support from her teammates as the side could only manage 130/3 in their 20 overs.
The Capricorn Eagles fought hard in their response as they overhauled the target with just two balls to spare.
Zimbabwe performed badly with both bat and bowl. They won the toss and elected to bat first but they failed to cash in on the good wicket.
New coach Gary Brent gave debuts to teenagers Kellis Ndlovu and Mitchell Mavunga with the latter acquitting herself well with the ball after taking 2/10 in her four overs.
However, Lady Chevrons skipper Mary-Anne Musonda was disappointed by the defeat and conceded her team did not do justice to the game overall.
“It was a good wicket,” she said.
“I think anyone who applied themselves well, either bowling or batting, had something. We saw Namibia bowling very well and they also batted very well and that means it was a fair wicket.
“I thought probably we didn’t apply ourselves upfront with the bat and the ball as well. It’s quite unfortunate it happened in the first game.”
Mugeri-Tiripano was the only shining light for Zimbabwe with her knock that included 10 fours and two sixes, until the unfortunate run out late in the innings.
Apart from her, no other Zimbabwean batter hit the boundary. Mugeri-Tiripano was run out midway through the 17th over as Zimbabwe sought a defendable total.
Musonda was the second highest scorer for Zimbabwe with 14 runs while Modester Mupachikwa, who batted at number four, was unbeaten on 12 runs from 14 deliveries.
“I thought she (Mugeri-Tiripano) really batted well. She composed herself well, in as much as Namibia were bowling well. Credit to them but these are things that happen in cricket,” said Musonda.
This was Namibia’s first win over Zimbabwe in eight T20 meetings. The Capricorn Eagles did well with the ball to restrict their highly-ranked opponents.
Namibia’s opening batter Jurriene Diergaardt made all the difference with the bat with her unbeaten 62 off 60 balls.
The brilliant knock earned the 21-year-old the Player of the Match award.
Namibia Women’s skipper Irene van Zyl was over the moon following the victory. This was her team’s first international assignment since the ICC Africa T20 World Cup qualifier held in Botswana last year and won by Zimbabwe.
“I am at a loss of words at the moment but I am definitely excited. It’s good to get a tournament off to a winning start and to have the team perform the way they did.
“It’s amazing, it just shows the hard work that has been put in since we came back from Botswana last September. I feel we can do better. We gave them 10-15 runs too many. We look forward to the next game against Uganda,” said van Zyl.
Online Reporter