Pakistan Shaheens narrowly win third match

BAD light saw the visiting Pakistan Shaheens claw back to the one-day series after narrowly winning the third match against Zimbabwe Select by five runs (D/L method) at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

In a dramatic finish, the umpires stopped play with the home side needing two wickets while the visitors needed 16 runs from 19 balls. After being sent in to bat first for the third time in a row, Zimbabwe Select managed to bat out the entire innings as they were bowled out for 278 runs in 50 overs before bad light stopped play with Pakistan Shaheens on 263/8 in 46,5 overs, five runs ahead of the par score which was on 258.

Pakistan Shaheens’ win meant that the six-match series is now 2-1 and is headed for an interesting last three games.

The Wellington Masakadza-captained Zimbabwean team made three changes to the team that played in the second match. Joylord Gumbie, Faraz Akram and Tanaka Chivanga came in for Innocent Kaia, Blessing Muzarabani and Victor Nyauchi. However, Nyauchi ended up coming in as a sub to replace Chivanga who picked up a head injury.

After making changes at the top, Zimbabwe Select lost yet an early wicket of Gumbie who fell for just one run leaving the team on 1-1 in the second over. However, Tadiwanashe Marumani and Wessly Madhevere managed to steady the ship as they notched up a 56-run partnership for the second wicket before the former fell for 29 runs off 45 deliveries. Madhevere went on to score 41 runs from 62 balls.

Sean Williams showed his class with the bat, scoring his 44th List A half century. The veteran all-rounder scored 78 runs after facing 59 deliveries while Craig Ervine chipped in with 27 runs from 40 balls. Shahnawaz Dahani starred with the ball for the visitors, finishing with figures of 4/43 in his 10-over spell while Aamer Jamal took three and conceded 60 runs in as many overs as well. Mubasir Khan, Mohammad Ali and Kamran Ghulam all took one scalp.

Defending what is their highest score so far in the series, wickets were not easy to come by for the Zimbabwean bowlers. Veteran, Tendai Chatara was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with the best figures of 4/53 in 9,5 overs while the skipper, Masakadza took two scalps for 44 runs in his 10 overs. The other two wickets were taken by Madhevere and Nyauchi.

Qasim Akram played a crucial role in Shaheens’ chase as he remained undefeated on 57 runs off 40 deliveries to help see his team through. Haseebullah Khan fell one runs short of his half century on 49 runs from 60 balls while Mubasir Khan made 30 runs to help their side get back to the series.

There was an injury scare for Zimbabwe as Williams walked out after he was hit by the ball on his fingers, an injury that saw him miss the Test series against West Indies in February. Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) arranged the one-dayers to help Zimbabwe fine-tune for the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 that will be staged across four venues in Harare and Bulawayo from 18 June to 9 July.

The event will see 10 teams competing for the two remaining places at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India later in the year. The fourth match of the series is scheduled for tomorrow at 09.15hrs at Harare Sports Club.

— @brandon_malvin