ZC confirm West Indies dates

Sport Reporter
West Indies have confirmed they arrive in Zimbabwe next week for two Tests against the Chevrons at Queens Sports Club later this month. Both matches are expected to take place in Bulawayo. The Windies are expected to land on October 11 and then engage in a practice match against Zimbabwe A four days later at Bulawayo Athletic Club.

The first Test is pencilled in for October 21-25 while the second one is set for October 29 – November 2. The West Indies are coming from a disappointing tour of England where they lost a three-match Test series 2-1. They also lost their One Day International series 4-0. But they won the only twenty20 match between the two teams during the two-month long tour. Zimbabwe, who have always complained of lack of game time, have been preparing for the tour with an unofficial ODI home series against the Netherlands.

The Chevrons, who were playing as Zimbabwe Select XI yesterday lost the final game by five-wickets. The hosts however had performed superbly winning the opening two games against the Royal Netherlands Cricket Board (KNCB) XI. The Zimbabweans won the toss and decided to bat on a warm sunny morning but only Malcolm Waller and Sikandar Raza did much in the miserable innings of 129 runs.

Rotating their team, they made four changes from the side that won so convincingly on Friday. Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams and Richard Ngarava stood down and their places were taken by Solomon Mire, Tarisai Musakanda, Malcolm Waller (who had all played in Wednesday’s game) and Mike Chinouya. Raza became the team’s third captain in three matches.

The Zimbabwe Select XI opened their innings with Mire and Chamu Chibhabha against the bowling of left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar and seamer Vivian Kingma. Chibhabha did not last long on this occasion, scoring just a single before edging a ball from Kingma comfortably to second slip; eight for one wicket in the second over. Musakanda began his innings confidently, but when he had made 11 he drove a hard low catch to mid-off off Kingma.

Mire was the next to go, cutting a ball from Paul van Meekeren to backward point after scoring 14 off 18 balls. At 35 for three in just over six overs, there was a suspicion of over-confidence or complacency in the batting. Netherlands were vibrant in the field and put all the pressure they could on Peter Moor and Ryan Burl. Burl did not bat long, bowled by a good full-length ball from van Meekeren before he had scored, reducing the score to 36 for four.

Moor joined the procession, slashing at a ball from Kingma and edging a catch to the keeper for seven, and five men were now gone for 40 after nine overs. It was now left to Waller and Raza to dig their team out of their self-inflicted pit. With runs coming at better than a run a ball, the hundred came up in the 21st over. The tables seemed to be completely turned when a fine throw from the outfield saw Waller narrowly run out for 37 off 38 balls. The partnership had added 73 runs in 13 overs and the score was now 113 for six in the 23rd over. Raza soon followed, cutting a ball from Michael Rippon to backward point and departing for 42 off 49 balls. The pair had made a good recovery, but failed to complete the job, with the score now 121 for seven in the 26th over, barely halfway through the allocation of 50 overs.

Donald Tiripano slashed wildly at a ball from Quirijn Gunning and edged a catch to the keeper for one, while Regis Chakabva similarly threw away his wicket, donating a catch to slip for three. The last pair of Chris Mpofu and Chinouya were on a hiding to nothing; Mpofu managed three singles, but then Chinouya attempted a big hit and edged a catch to the keeper without scoring, ending the innings for an inglorious 129 in the 31st over. The Dutch carefully negotiated their way to victory with Peter Borren, who had held the middle order together in every match, the top scorer with a knock of 48 runs not out off 49 balls. They reached 134 for five.