Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
A POOR show by Zimbabwe saw Netherlands win the first One Day International (ODI) match of the three-match cricket series by three wickets with one ball to spare at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
After being sent in to bat first, the Chevrons recovered with the bat after a terrible start to score 249 all out in 47.3 overs before they failed to keep out their opponents who went on to finish on 255/7 in 49.5 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
It took a special innings from Clive Madande to get the Chevrons to a decent total alongside Wellington Masakadza and Richard Ngarava.
Madande, coming in to bat at number seven scored a brilliant, career best 74 runs from 98 deliveries, helping Zimbabwe to move from 98/7 to 249.On the other end, Madande was supported by Masakadza who also recorded his highest ODI score before he was run out for 34 runs off 50 deliveries.
Masakadza’s previous best with the ball was 15 runs. Ngarava also came in handy with the bat, once again making his highest individual score in the format with 35 runs off 27 deliveries.
His previous best was an unbeaten 34 runs.
The Chevrons’ top order failed to get going with Innocent Kaia scoring 12 runs off 22 balls while the skipper, Craig Ervine and Gary Balance made four runs each off five and nine balls respectively.
Sikandar Raza fell for 22 runs from 31 balls while Wessly Madhevere was unfortunately run out for 17 off 18 deliveries.
Fred Klaassen starred with the ball for the Dutch, taking three wickets for 41 runs in 9.3 overs while Paul van Meekeren finished with figures of 2/50 in nine overs.
Brandon Glover, Vikramjit Singh and Shariz Ahmad took one wicket each for the visitors. Teja Nidamanuru handed the Dutch victory after scoring a brilliant 110 runs from 96 balls to give Netherlands an edge going into the second match tomorrow.
The ton was Nidamanuru’s first in ODIs. Colin Ackermann scored his second ODI half century before he fell for 50 runs off 72 balls to hand their side the win in the opening match.
Zimbabwean bowlers looked threatening in the early stages of their defence after leaving their opponents on 64/5 in 20.3 overs before the wheels came off later on.
Brad Evans, who has proven to be a good death bowler only bowled 5.5 overs including the last over where he was tasked to defend four runs.
Masakadza finished with the best bowling figures for Zimbabwe, taking three wickets for 36 runs in 10 overs while Ngarava took 2/44 in 10 overs. Evans had one scalp and gave away 30 runs.
“I feel like today (yesterday) Netherlands really utilised those early conditions well and put us under pressure but having said that, with us getting 250 on the board, I felt like our bowling attack was definitely good enough to defend that.
“It is important to get runs and wickets in any series that you play and after this series we have a long break before we play cricket again but it’s always nice to be winning at home and have the crowd supporting you and keeping that feeling going especially leading up to the qualifiers,” said Ervine in the post-match press conference.
After tomorrow’s match, the third and final game is set to take place on Saturday.
Both teams are using the series, which is part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI Super League, as part of their preparations for the World Cup Qualifiers that will be held in Zimbabwe in June where only two teams are expected to book the final slots to the global showpiece. – @brandon_malvin
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