daniel chigunwe
Lawrence Moyo
Head Zimpapers Sports
HOSTS Namibia revived Zimbabwe’s hopes of sneaking into the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament in the West Indies and USA after beating Kenya by six wickets in a top-of-the-table clash at the United Ground in Windhoek yesterday.
The outcome revived Zimbabwe’s fading hopes as the Chevrons, who registered the biggest T20I win in history against Rwanda yesterday, will now have to win their remaining matches against Nigeria and Kenya while hoping for a Kenya victory over Uganda tomorrow.
Uganda walloped Nigeria by nine wickets with 15 balls to spare in yesterday’s late match to move to three wins from four matches together with Kenya in second place.
Zimbabwe and Kenya clash on the final day of qualifiers on Thursday in what might be a winner-take-all contest.
Zimbabwe’s qualifying campaign is in a mess after two embarrassing losses to Namibia and Uganda and the Chevrons, who were tipped to easily sail through, now need lots of help from other matches to claim the remaining slot as the hosts look certain to finish top.
Going into yesterday’s round of matches, Kenya and Namibia had a 100 percent record from the opening three matches.
But having already lost to Namibia, the Chevrons needed the hosts to beat Kenya and they did by cruising to a six-wicket victory with 28 balls to spare while chasing 105.
Kenya struggled for runs and could only make 104/6 in their 20 overs while Namibia were wobbling at 47/4 in the ninth over before Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit took the Namibians home six overs later.
Kenya now must win against Uganda and Zimbabwe to progress to the finals next year, which might work in the Chevrons’ advantage as the east African rivals clash tomorrow with the Kenyans favourites to win.
A Kenya victory over Uganda restores the Chevrons’ advantage as they will have qualification back in their own hands.
A Ugandan victory over Kenya might signal the end of Zimbabwe’s hopes as they will not have an opportunity to stop them. Instead Uganda will have to deal with lowly Rwanda in their final qualifier virtually guaranteed of victory.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe registered their biggest Twenty20 International cricket win with a 144-run victory over Rwanda in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier Final at the Wanderers Sports Ground in Windhoek yesterday. The Chevrons were asked to bat and made 215/4 in 20 overs, their second highest innings total in history and only their fifth score of over 200 behind the 236/5 against Singapore at Harare Sports Club last year.
A margin of 144 runs is the highest by Zimbabwe, bettering the 111-run win over Singapore when they made the record score last year while the 109-run win over Canada defending 185 in 2008 complete the only three occasions the Chevrons won a T20I by over at least 100 runs. This huge victory might come to nought for the Chevrons as they no longer have control over Uganda’s results following Sunday’s five-wicket humiliation at the hands of the East African minnows.
Rwanda sent in Zimbabwe to bat and captain Sikandar Raza promoted himself to open the innings with Tadiwanashe Marumani and they went on to register the second highest first wicket partnership of 99 before Raza was caught and bowled in the 11th over.
Their stand just fell short of the 101 by Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza against Bangladesh at Khulna in January of 2016.
Raza was the innings topscorer with 58 runs off 36 balls, hitting six fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 161.11 percent.
He now holds the record for Most Sixes for Zimbabwe in T20I cricket with 69, four more than former captain Hamilton Masakadza, who retired on 65 sixes. It became 119/2 when fellow opener Marumani departed for a career-best 50 scored off 31 balls — he hit four fours and three sixes.
Nick Welch batted at number three and made 18 off 15 balls while Sean Williams added 22 from 14 balls before departing in the 19th over with Zimbabwe 176/4.
Ryan Burl was unbeaten on 44 off 21 balls after smashing five fours and three sixes. Luke Jongwe was pushed up to number six and scored 17 off just four balls, hitting two sixes and a four to push Zimbabwe to 215/4.
The Chevrons had their tails up and got a wicket first ball of the Rwanda response as inform Richard Ngarava dismissed Oscar Manishimwe for a golden duck while the top five batsmen fell for single digits.
Rwanda were 15/5 after 5.5 overs but laboured to 63/5 in the 14th over before the remaining five wickets fell for just eight runs in exactly five overs.
Raza was named man-of-the-match as he grabbed three late wickets for three runs in 2.4 overs to add to his batting achievements while Ngarava had three for 11 in three overs and Burl took two wickets for just seven runs in four overs. There was a wicket each for Blessing Muzarabani (3-2-10-1) and Carl Mumba (2-0-16-1) while Jongwe (3-0-12-0) and Wesley Madhevere (1-0-7-0) were wicketless as Zimbabwe took all 10 wickets in a dominant display.
Next up for Zimbabwe are the remaining two qualifiers against Nigeria tomorrow and Kenya on Thursday. As things stand, destiny is no longer in Zimbabwe’s hands and they will be eagerly waiting for the East African clash between Kenya and Uganda tomorrow with the Chevrons’ best interests being served by a Kenyan victory.
Latest Standings
P W L T NR Pts NRR
Namibia 4 4 0 0 0 8 2.588
Uganda 4 3 1 0 0 6 0.503
Kenya 4 3 1 0 0 6 0.481
Zimbabwe 4 2 2 0 0 4 2.276
Nigeria 4 1 2 0 1 3 -0.195
Rwanda 4 0 3 0 1 1 -4.580
Tanzania 4 0 4 0 0 0 -2.294
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