Chevrons Beat Afghanistan in Thriller at Queens






By Perkins-Tino Bare 

Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 2 runs in a thriller played at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo as they held their nerve to bowl out Afghanistan for 194 after they had set a target of 197 to win the match. 

The Chevrons went in to bat first as they lost all three openers losing the wicket of Solomon Mire, Cephas Zhuwawo and Hamilton Masakadza for a meagre 7 runs. This would have put into question the aggressive approach being employed by the coach as the middle order is having to do the dirty work. They once again stepped up to the plate and held the wicket fall following a 98 run wicket stand between Sikandar Raza and Brendan Taylor who has seen a turn of fortunes ever since he was dropped down the batting line up. Sikandar Raza scored 60 runs including 6 fours at a staggering strike rate of 88.23 as it came from just 68 balls. Brendan Taylor failed to reach a century as he fell for 89 with 7 fours and 3 sixes to his name. This was the partnership that steered the Chevrons back on their course to what would be a rather interesting afternoon at Bulawayo. 

Graeme Cremer chipped in with 19 but after that there was a series of wickets falling as the classing Chevron domino effect had hit our boys. Malcolm came in at 8th and unfortunately he was the last batsman who managed to put some runs on the board as he had 3 runs. The rest of the lot that is Chatara and Vitori could only survive for 2 balls before being bowled out for a duck whilst Muzarabani was bowled first ball.  

With a target of 197 to protect hit was then up to our boys to prove their worth with the ball as Vitori and Chatara led the seam attack on the day. Afghanistan looked well on their course to yet another victory over the Chevrons as they were on 156-4 in the 33rd over needing just 41 runs to win from 20 overs with 6 wickets in hand. I bet even at this moment some Sharjah nightmares were going through the head of most of the boys on the pitch. But Raza, was having none of it as he went on to grab 3 wickets conceding 40 runs and bowling 1 maiden. Brian Muzarabani was shy of a fifer as he grabbed 4 wickets conceding 47 runs in his allotted 10 overs and soon Afghanistan was on 163-6. In the 36th over before they were hanging on to their last wicket on 177-9 with 9 overs of cricket still to be played for the Chevrons to grab that all important last wicket. It was all left to Brian Vitori to then end it all in last over with 3 balls left to play in the match as Afghanistan were bowled out for 194. 

"We knew we had a score on the board," Cremer said in a post match interview. "In competitions like this, it doesn't matter how small the target is, if you have runs on the board there's always that pressure. "It's supposed to get tense, we're playing for our countries - both teams - and it has to get tense," said Raza who was the man of the match. "We say that the team that panics first will lose. We just kept our composure. In that last over we thought 'we're right into it, one mistake or one bad shot ' Let's just drag it into the last over, and if they panic they'll lose" added Raza in a post-match interview. 

The Chevrons are now second to Scotland in their group with two wins each as they both sit on 4 points with Scotland enjoying a superior net run rate. Rasa thanked the fans who filled up the Queens Sports Club as they rushed onto the field after the match, “They played a huge role today," Raza said, "When my head was dropping, when Nabi's dropped catch was ringing in my head, and I wasn't getting a breakthrough and there were a few edges that dropped short or went to the boundary, the fans never let me drop my head. And not just me, everyone who went to the ropes today, the fans were cheering them on. They were the real 12th man today." Raaza was also thankful to Cremer who also played a vitat role as captain in encouraging the team to then go on and get that breakthrough. The Chevrons next play Hong Kong on Saturday at the same venue.

Full Video of Final Wicket 

Regards - Merna Cremer https://twitter.com/MernaCremer767/status/971063707672481792




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scott Vincent to Tee-Off with The Masters Champion

Image
Zimbabwe’s top ranked amateur golfer Scott Vincent is set to tee off with the recently crowned Masters champion Jordan Spieth who was crowned at Augustus this past weekend. the two are set to go head to head this upcoming weekend as they battle it out in the RBC Heritage Classic on April 16-20 at the Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines Plantation in Hilton Head, South Carolina. This will be a chance for Scott Vincent to turn pro and speaking on the tourney in an interview the humble Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University senior was quick to rubbish any expectations as he dismissed anything big saying that to him this was an opportunity to learn from the best. "Don't set expectations too high and just soak every bit of what there is to soak in on the PGA Tour." Speaking on his chances in the tournament he went on to add, "I'm just here to learn," he said. "Hopefully I'll be back in a few years' time." Vincent was quick
Read more

ZC Heartbreak Can it Get Any Worse?

Image
Perkins-Tino Bare “I played too much cricket in my life to fall back now on ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ so, like the players, I will accept that we were not good enough. One win in six matches is immense disappointment. The future might be bleak, with qualification almost certainly required for the next ICC Cricket World Cup, and ZC facing a battle to attract fixtures in the short and medium term, either home or away, the players will need to embrace the fact that their futures lie in their hands” , Alastair Campbell told standard sport. So as our boys left the center stage back into the dark, gloomy background of ZC to most it was more of the same, `so close yet so far` but this time it was different the guys represented us quite well during the course of the whole tournament despite leaving with just one victory and one would be tempted to agree that if Dav Whatmore is to get more time with the team he is to build he should therefore build a formidable side indeed. This t
Read more

Third-Time Luck for the Cheetahs?

Image
Perkins-Tino Bare The Zimbabwe sevens` rugby team the Cheetahs got their battle this morning to a flying satart as they beat Guyana 36-0, as they seek that much coveted HSBC core statusover this weekend in Hong Kong as they play in the Qualifiers which would determine the core member status of the winner of the round of fixtures. The Cheetahs who could have not asked for better preparations as they got the chance to train with the World`s best in the South African Side the Blitzebokke at their world-class University of Stellenbosch training facilities om South Africa go into this series with their heads held high as is left to do on the pitch as this time the administrators have outdone their part and its now left to the players to prove their worth. The Cheetahs kicked off their campaign in what would be their third attempt with an assignment bytharshing Guyan 36-0 and they will take on Tonga two hours later which would wrap up their encounters for the day. The encou
Read more