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Jeffrey Murimbechi Sports Correspondent
HAMILTON MASAKADZA provided the rock on which Zimbabwe built their sensational seven-wicket victory over Pakistan at Harare Sports Club yesterday to finally end a miserable run of 15 years without a win over their plucky and classy Asian opponents in all forms of cricket. The experienced Masakadza supplied the bulk of the runs, with a mature performance expected of his leadership role in this team, but this was by no means a one-man show as there were priceless contributions from opener Vusi Sibanda, skipper Brendan Taylor and an explosive cameo role by Sean Williams that took the hosts over the line.
Zimbabwe had last beaten Pakistan in their backyard in Sheikhupura by six wickets in 1998 and such has been the one-way traffic, in terms of the results, that this was only the hosts’ third win in 45 One Day Internationals over their opponents.
Having been blown away by world champions India in a 5-0 whitewash in the ODIs and lost the Twenty20 series 0-2 to Pakistan, Zimbabwe were expected to be rolled over by the sixth-ranked ODI team in the world.
But the Zimbabweans defied the odds, in the first of the three ODIs, and handed their hard-working coach, Andy “Bundu” Waller, his first victory since taking over the team from British expatriate coach Alan Butcher.
Sean Williams sealed the victory with a huge six over midwicket and then exploded in a tremor of joy while Waller pumped his fists into the air as the Zimbabweans soaked in the joy of a huge victory on the international fold.
“It’s a pretty awesome feeling, we have shown a lot of character from a couple of weeks back when we were badly beaten by India, so I couldn’t be happier,” said skipper Taylor, who provided the anchor role to calm the nerves and remain unbeaten right up to the end.
“To beat the quality team that Pakistan have got shows that we are doing the right things. When our top-order batsmen come off, it lays that foundation, our seam bowlers today were also exceptional.
“But there is still room for improvement, we dropped some pretty easy catches.”
After winning the toss and surprisingly electing to bat, skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammed Hafeez scored half centuries and made a 99-run partnership for the third wicket which steadied Pakistan to a competitive 244 for 7.
But the visitors were never on top of the situation, thanks to some fine bowling by the Zimbabweans, although their batsmen were given some new leases of life by erratic fielding by the hosts.
“We misread the pitch, it looked like it was going to be slow in the second innings, but it just played slow from the start. Still, Zimbabwe bowled better than us,” Misbah said at the presentation ceremony.
“We were maybe 30 runs short, but you need to bowl and field well to defend this total. We were missing something in our bowling line-up today, especially with the new ball.
“Still, I think Zimbabwe really deserved it — they played really well and played better than us. There was no panic in their batting line-up and they did it comfortably.”
Zimbabwe appeared to have little trouble, though, as Masakadza (85) and Sibanda (54) put on 107 for the first wicket by guiding the ball cleverly around the ground.
Taylor (43 not out) and Williams guided their side to a famous win with 10 balls to spare, the latter launching a six over mid-wicket to end the match.
It could have been far worse for Pakistan who were set to score below the 230 mark had Zimbabwe held their catches — both Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad were put down during an opening partnership of 56, while Hafeez was let off on 10 and 55.
Misbah required no such luck in a well-paced knock that saw him go to 50 in 62 balls before opening up towards the end, and his two sixes off Tinashe Panyangara in the final over of the innings ensured that Pakistan had something to bowl at.
Panyangara was denied of wickets as the chances that openers Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad offered were put down, but he was the most economic, if not impressive, just conceding 38 runs of ten overs.
When you consider that he also had to bowl the final slog over, which went for more than a dozen, then you can see that his figures were very impressive and deserved due reward.
Tendai Chatara and Brian Vitori took two wickets a piece. Zimbabwe’s top order laid a perfect foundation starting with a 107-run opening stand between Masakadza and Sibanda’s (54 off 82) which was broken in the 24th with the latter departing for 54 from 82 balls after being trapped lbw.
It was followed by a 69-run partnership for the second wicket with Taylor.
“I knew that the wicket was going to get better in the afternoon. The pitch was better to bat on after the first 10 overs. We were just one down when Taylor came out so there weren’t really any nerves at that time,” said Masakadza.
Masakadza reached his 50 in 79 balls scoring the remaining 35 runs from 25 balls; his knock featured nine fours and a six earning him the man-of-the-match award, while Taylor’s unbeaten 43 off 59 gave him the player-of-the-match award.
After Masakadza’s departure, Taylor continued the momentum and Tymcen Maruma’s arrival had the crowd, once again, in a nervy situation and as they panicked, with every dot ball, his pressure built and he rode a lot of that.
Williams finished off unbeaten with a quick-fire 39 from 29 balls, although he saw an inside edge crash into his stump but fail to dislodge the bails and then somehow roll all the way to the boundary.
When such things happen you know it’s your day and this was Zimbabwe’s day and they thoroughly deserved their breaks of fortune, as and when they got them, to go with their professional work yesterday where their ability to negotiate the spinners was key.
Score Card:
Pakistan Innings:
Nasir Jamshed c Taylor b Chatara 27
Ahmed Shehzad st Taylor b Utseya 24
Mohammad Hafeez c Maruma b Chatara 70
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 83
Umar Amin run out 1
Shahid Afridi c Taylor b Vitori 11
Haris Sohail c Utseya b Vitori 2
Sarfraz Ahmed run out 7
Saeed Ajmal not out 3
Extras (7lb, 9w) 16
Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 244
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Ahmed Shehzad), 2-80 (Nasir Jamshed), 3-179 (Mohammad Hafeez), 4-184 (Umar Amin), 5-198 (Shahid Afridi), 6-202 (Haris Sohail), 7-223 (Sarfraz Ahmed).
Did not bat: Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan
Bowling: Panyangara 10-2-38-0, Vitori 10-0-42-2, Chatara 10-2-32-2, Utseya 10-0-60-1, Chigumbura 2-0-11-0, Waller 2-0-19-0, Williams 4-0-18-0, Masakadza 2-0-17-0.
Zimbabwe Innings:
H. Masakadza c Misbah-ul-Haq b Saeed Ajmal 85
V. Sibanda lbw b Saeed Ajmal 54
B. Taylor not out 43
T. Maruma c Ahmed Shehzad b Junaid Khan 18
S. Williams not out 39
Extras (1b, 3lb, 3w) 7
Total (3 wkts, 48.2 overs) 246
Fall of wickets: 1-107 (Sibanda), 2-176 (Masakadza), 3-201 (Maruma).
Did not bat: M. Waller, E. Chigumbura, P. Utseya, T. Panyangara, T. Chatara, B. Vitori.
Bowling: Mohammad Irfan 9.2-1-45-0, Junaid Khan 9-0-55-1, Saeed Ajmal 10-0-44-2, Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-40-0, Shahid Afridi 9-0-51-0, Umar Amin 1-0-7-0.
Online Reporter