daniel chigunwe
Brandon Moyo in BULAWAYO
Zimpapers Sports Hub
HELL hath no fury like a wounded Pakistan cricket team.
The Asian giants roared back from their humiliating 80-run loss in the first ODI to level the series with a comprehensive 10-wicket win at Queens Sports Club yesterday.
The decider is on tomorrow.
Chevrons’ skipper Craig Ervine said:
“Our batting has been poor in both games. In the first game, Richard (Ngarava) batted exceptionally well to get us to 205.
“We didn’t have any partnerships today.
“We had a few guys getting in but not continuing, getting 20s and 30s, but you can never put a good score on the board unless someone bats deep.
“That’s something we need to look at and hopefully we can apply ourselves a little bit better on Thursday.” Even after a below par score, in which they were bundled out for 145, Ervine felt early strikes could have made a difference.
“We thought that our best chance to strike early was with seam,” said Ervine.
Spinners, led by debutant Abrar Ahmed, led the visitors’ bowling unit.
Pakistan’s opening duo of Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique would go on to comfortably chase down the target inside 19 overs.
Despite losing nine wickets to spin in their batting innings, Zimbabwe only introduced the slow bowlers after 10 overs with Sikandar Raza coming in to bowl the 11th.
Ahmed said he was ready for the challenge in his first One-Day match for Pakistan.
“My captain told me that I am going to bowl with the new ball and I was ready and prepared. We were well briefed.”
Zimbabwe, again, lost the first wicket to an unnecessary run out.Tadiwanashe Marumani, after poor communication with Joylord Gumbie, was run out for four off two balls, leaving the team on 6/1 after 1,3 overs.
The Chevrons would go on to lose wickets on regular intervals with no meaningful partnerships.
Dion Myers top scored for the Chevrons with 33 runs off 30 deliveries while Sean Williams made 31 runs from 39 balls. Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza chipped in with 18 and 17 runs respectively.
Leg spinner Ahmed led Pakistan’s bowling unit with impressive figures of 4/33 in eight overs.
Online Reporter