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IT might not have been as clinical as their record win against Gambia, but Zimbabwe still completed a clean sweep at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Sub-Regional Qualifier B in Kenya yesterday.
The Chevrons put an exclamation mark on the tournament by cruising to a 61-run victory over hosts Kenya at Gym-khana Club Ground.
The Chevrons finished the round-robin tournament unbeaten with 10 points while Kenya ended on eight points. Both teams, however, progressed to the T20 World Cup Africa Regional Final where they will meet six other contestants for the two tickets to the 2026 T20 World Cup.
After winning the toss yesterday, Zimbabwe opted to bat first and did not get the best of starts to their innings. They lost two consecutive wickets in the fourth over with the dismissal of Brian Bennet and Dion Myers.
Bennet was dismissed for 13 off 10 balls while Myers was dismissed for a duck from the next delivery.
Two balls before the end of the power-play, Zimbabwe suffered another blow as Tadiwanashe Marumani was sent back to the pavilion for 14 runs. With the threat of a low score looming, Zimbabwe eventually managed to dig themselves out of the hole as Ryan Burl put up a Player-of-the-Match performance courtesy of his 61 runs off 43 balls.
His effort was supported by skipper Sikandar Raza who scored 27 runs off 28 balls.
Clive Madande came in with another handy knock of 17 runs off 14 while Tashinga Musekiwa had a late cameo, scoring 14 runs off nine balls. The Chevrons ended up posting what turned out to be a competitive total of 163 runs for the loss of seven wickets.
Out to defend the score, Zimbabwe’s bowlers showed quality and class as they bowled out the hosts for 102 runs in 19 overs.
However, what is a Zimbabwe win without a star performance from their skipper and talisman — Sikandar Raza? The Chevrons skipper and Trevor Gwandu claimed three wickets each while Brendan Mavuta chipped in with two scalps. Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava bagged a single wicket each.
While yesterday’s outing was a far cry from his explosive performances in the previous game against Gambia, Raza did put his name in the record books yet again.
His two catches from the match saw him overtake Burl (41) and break the record for most catches by a Zimbabwe fielder in T20 internationals at 42. Raza, Burl, Craig Ervine (31), Sean Williams (29), and Wellington Masakadza (28) make up the top five Zimbabwe fielders with the most T20I catches.
Raza’s feat comes off 96 matches and innings while Burl’s 41 is off 82 matches and innings.
Zimbabwe captain Raza was excited about the win, revealing that the team had accomplished the mission they set out to achieve at the start of the tournament. “When we came for the tournament, we did not come just to qualify for the Regional qualifiers but to win the tournament and I am happy that we have managed to do so,” said Raza.
Online Reporter