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Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE cricket’s man-of-the-moment Sikandar Raza says it feels good to be playing at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup after he put up a scintillating show yesterday to help the Chevrons win their opening Group B match against Ireland.
The Chevrons beat Ireland by 31 runs under the lights at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
Raza was voted Man-of-the-Match for his belligerent knock of 82 runs from 48 deliveries. The all-rounder has been playing the cricket of his life of late and he ensured he carried his form to the big stage as Zimbabwe put on 174/7 after being put in to bat first, and then later restricting their opponents to 143/9 in their 20 overs.
It was quite an emotional return to the World Cup stage for Zimbabwe for the first time in six long years and Raza said yesterday’s win strengthened him more.
“One of the things that I try and do is to take the emotions out,” he said after the game.
“So I try and stay in a very balanced state where I am not getting too angry or excited or up or down.
“I know we missed out on a few World Cups but if I start thinking about that then emotions could take over. So, for me it was just being here, staying in the present, try and take one ball at a time and see where the team gets to. But it feels nice now,” said Raza.
After they were sent in to bat first yesterday, the Chevrons had a slow take off and lost three key wickets for 37 runs in the power play overs.
Vice-captain Regis Chakabva was the first to go for a duck, the second ball of the match, off the bowling of Josh Little.
The left arm pacer went on to dismiss Wessly Madhevere (22) in the fifth over before skipper Craig Ervine (9) followed the next over from the bowling of Simi Singh.
Most of the batters could not convert their starts into big scores but Zimbabwe still recovered from a dangerous position of 37/3 and recorded their highest score in the ICC T20 World Cup.
The previous best was 163/5 against the same opponents at the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.
Raza was yesterday involved in two key partnerships with Sean Williams and Milton Shumba and then with Luke Jongwe, who had a 20-run cameo from 10 balls in the late overs.
Raza was involved in a blistering knock that included five boundaries and as many sixes, from the 48 balls that he faced. He was happy he managed his nerves well in the face of adversity. Ireland have always been a bogey team for Zimbabwe, with five wins from previous eight T20I meetings.
“The only thing I said to Sean (Williams) was let’s try and take the team as far as we both can. The only thought in my head was just bat and I didn’t allow any emotions to get over me or to get the better of me.
“As much as the team was in a bit of a difficult situation, I thought the best way for me to get out of the situation was to try and not let the emotions get the better of me.
“All I said was I will lift the tiny ball well and take it from there,” said Raza.
The Zimbabwe all-round said he was looking forward to more positive performances in their next match against the West Indies tomorrow. He said Zimbabwe have a target to reach the Super 12 stage.
“I don’t have many secrets (for the good form). The only secret I can tell you is I try and channel all the emotions of success and failure in the right way and try and compete with the best in the world so that we can represent Zimbabweans and put our flag among the best in the world, as well.
“We wanted to say one thing when we qualified, in as much as we were happy to be here, we knew that our journey was not done yet.
“We didn’t just come here because we are happy that we are representing Zimbabwe. The goal we brought was to get into the Super 12, take on some of the big teams and then see where we go.
“So, to have this victory today certainly is humbling. It’s exciting and we are happy as well. But for me, once the team chat is done, I won’t be celebrating this victory anymore. It’s now in the past.
“We have a very tough game against the Caribbean boys (West Indies) in 48 hours’ time and that’s what I am looking forward to now,” said Raza.
Ireland’s Little took 3-24 while Mark Adalr and Simi Singh had two wickets apiece.
However, the Irish started off the chase in the worst possible manner after Richard Ngarava got the big wicket of Paul Stirling (0) before returning to bowl out Lorcan Tucker (11) to leave the opponents at 14/2 after 2.4 overs.
Ireland never got the partnerships and were restricted to 143/9 in their 20 overs.
Blessing Muzarabani picked up 3-23 while Tendai Chatara and Ngarava had two wickets each.
Zimbabwe could have won the match by at least a bigger margin yesterday but untidy bowling and poor fielding saw Ireland’s tail-enders getting dropped twice and adding 20-plus runs to their tally.
“We always know that in a competition like this the run rate could be a possibility in the end; we wanted to finish it off as quickly as possible. So, it was a little bit disappointing not to finish it off.
“But credit to all the guys for coming out today and putting up a great performance,” said Zimbabwe skipper Sean Ervine.
Zimbabwe are set to play West Indies in their second game tomorrow. The two-time former champions fell to a shock 42-runs defeat to surprise Group B leaders Scotland in the first match played earlier.
Both Zimbabwe and Scotland have two points each, but the Europeans have a superior net run rate.
” . . . We are ecstatic to put up a performance like this first game back into the World Cup. I think it just shows that we do belong here and it’s a pity that it has been so long since we last played in the World Cup,” said Ervine.
Scorecard:
Zimbabwe won by 31 runs
Zimbabwe 174/7 in 20 overs (Raza 82, Madhevere 22, Shumba 16; Little 3-24, Singh 2-31)
Ireland 143/9 in 20 overs (Chris Campher 27, George Dockrell 24, Gareth Delany 24; Muzarabani 3-23, Ngarava 2-22)
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