Chevrons Lose Practice Matches Against West Indies



By Perkins Bare
The Chevrons went down by a whopping lost by a whopping 10 wickets in the second T20 warm-up match against West Indies played yesterday at the Sharjah out in the United Arab Emirates. They had earlier lost the first encounter as well by 18 runs after putting on a much better performance.
In the first practice match, West Indies batted first with Dwayne Bravo starring in their innings. He led the scoring with 4 fours and 2 sixes which helped him to a decent total of 55 runs from 48 balls. Bravo also added 60 with fourth wicket partnership with Denesh Ramdin, who was the second highest scorer with a 33-ball 40. Ramden also hit 2 fours and two sixes in the process which then prompted Tendai Chatara who`s returning from his injury getting his second wicket of the evening. The partnership however propelled the West Indies to a total of 147/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Whilst the partnership of Bravo and Ramden was pick of the West Indies innings, Tinashe Panyangara and Tendai Chatara starred for the Chevrons as they had two wickets apiece. The two played well in that whilst they were able to get those vital wickets they did not really concede the big numbers conceding figures of 30 and 37. This is especially in light of Chatara having an average economy rate of 7.23 whilst Panyangara`s is slightly higher at 8.28. Graeme Cremer also played well with him averaging 6.70 runs.
The Chevrons chase did not however get off to a glorious start as the in-form Hamilton Masakadza was trapped for 19 leaving Mutumbami at the crease. Richmond then cruised to 40 runs from 27 balls which included six fours and one six.
As the wickets started to fall for Zimbabwe no one was really able to steady-up the ship with only Malcolm Waller and Elton Chigumbura showing some fight. Malcolm Waller chipped in with 33 runs and Elton Chigumbura 25, as the Chevrons staggered to a total of 129/7 losing the match by 18 runs.
Such an outing in the first practice match should have propelled the Chevs to play better in the 2nd T20 but the Monday blues caught up with them as they were totally blown away in the 2nd T20 failing to get a single wicket in the process.
The Chevrons batted first on what was supposedly a batting pitch and it was going well as they were 72-2 at 10 overs with Williams 8* and Sibanda 23* at the crease. Sibanda then cruised to his half century from 40 balls hitting 4 fours and two sixes in the process on his way to a total of 63 on the night. Sikander Raza also chipped in for the Chevrons with 23 runs. It just then brings us back to that whole debate about consistency and if we are going to have a decent outing in India (that`s if we make it), our batsmen have to be performing regularly. In the first T20 it was Elton Chigumbura and Malcolm Waller whilst in the second it was Sibanda and Raza`s turn. Its important that at least a couple of our batsmen become reliable which will then form the spine of our batting line-up. As it stands its not yet clear on who we can rely on for they perform one day then the next its a different ball game leaving all the dirty work to the bowlers.
Zimbabwe closed off with a low total of 153-7 which was not going to be really a problem for the West Indies batsmen. They started their chase with Charles and Fletcher at the crease and the two were able to see them past the line as they propelled the Windies to a crushing win in 12.4 overs without loss. Johnson Charles was shy of a century with 92 not out whilst Andre Fletcher had 56 not out.
Zimbabwe`s first match is against Hong Kong on the 8th of March as they seek to go past a group which also contains Scotland and Afghanistan for a place at the ICC T20 World Cup in India.

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