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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