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Monday, February 28, 2011

World Cup: Taibu leads Zimbabwe to thumping win against Canada

T Taibu
(TOI)
NAGPUR:
Brian Lara is Zimbabwe's batting consultant and Grant Flower is batting coach. If these two stalwarts of the game are attached to any team, that side is bound to show improvement.
The appointment of the duo by Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) last November was to strengthen their fragile batting line-up and guide them to tighten their techniques for the tough international cricket.
The long-term benefits will take some time but on Monday at the VCA Jamtha Stadium against Canada, Zimbabwe achieved their short-term goal which showed that the signs are quite promising for the future. Any side losing both their openers with just seven on the board and went on to amass 298/9 that was the foundation for their 175-run victory, must be complimented for their effort irrespective of the quality of their opponents.
Opting to bat first, Zimbabwe received double blow when their most prolific batsman Brendan Taylor and Charles Coventry returned to the pavilion cheaply. Khurram Chohan traps Taylor on the very first ball of the innings to make a sensational start to the match dubbed as the 'battle of the minnows'.
The fellow paceman Harvir Baidwan then make the matter worse for the African side by getting rid of Coventry (4). That phase was Canada's best as they struggled as the match progressed.
Tatenda Taibu and Craig Ervine used all their experience to good effect as they first steadied the rocking ship and then consolidated the innings with splendid exhibition of batting.
Mixing caution with aggression, both Taibu and Ervine maintained the steady flow of runs by finding the gaps regularly. Ervine was the more aggressive of the two as the 25-year-old smashed six fours and two towering sixes on his way to hit 85 off 81 balls. Ervine's dismissal at the score of 188 triggered a mini collapse but he along with Taibu had done enough damage from which Canada could not recovered.
Living to his reputation as the most experienced batsman in the team, Taibu milked the Canada bowling at will. Although Taibu missed his century by a whisker, he made sure that Zimbabwe posted a strong total.
The wicketkeeper-batsman struck run-a-ball 98 before he became the victim of Balaji Rao. The leg-spinner, who earlier played for Tamil Nadu, was the most successful Canada bowler with four for 57. It could have been Taibu's third century in ODIs and first in the World Cup before he skied a catch to mid-wicket as he unable to judge the bounce of the ball. Taibu and Ervine added 181 for the third wicket setting a new record at the Jamtha ground.
Despite losing four wickets in a span of 31 runs, Zimbabwe managed to reach near 300 thanks to brilliant batting towards the end by Sean Williams (30), Prosper Utseya (22) and Graeme Cremer (26). Once Zimbabwe piled up a huge score it was a matter of formality. Chasing a target of 299, Canada had to play out of their skins and Zimbabwe had to bowl really bad to change the obvious. Both things didn't happen as Zimbabwe registered a thumping 175-run victory to notch up their first win and keep alive their hopes of reaching the quarterfinals.
Zimbabwe's strength is spin bowling and they displayed their might as Ray Price in the company of Cremer (3 wkts each), Utseya and Lamb (2 wkts each) bundled out the hapless Canada for mere 123 in 42.1 overs. All 10 wickets were claimed by spinners.
The oldest and youngest player " John Davison and Nitish Kumar" did make an unique record by opening the Canada innings but apart from that they couldn't do much on the field. While Davison failed to open his account, 16-year-old Nitish could not make his World Cup debut a memorable one as he managed just one off 10 balls.
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score card


Zimbabwe innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4s 6s SR
BRM Taylor lbw b Khurram Chohan 0 1 1 0 0 0.00
CK Coventry lbw b Baidwan 4 16 10 0 0 40.00
T Taibu† c Davison b Balaji Rao 98 147 99 9 0 98.98
CR Ervine c †Bagai b Balaji Rao 85 114 81 6 2 104.93
E Chigumbura* c †Bagai b Rizwan Cheema 5 6 8 1 0 62.50
SC Williams c †Bagai b Balaji Rao 30 34 25 3 0 120.00
GA Lamb b Balaji Rao 11 12 13 1 0 84.61
P Utseya c Hansra b Khurram Chohan 22 40 29 2 0 75.86
AG Cremer b Baidwan 26 31 23 2 0 113.04

RW Price not out 10 14 6 2 0 166.66

CB Mpofu not out 3 9 5 0 0 60.00

Extras (lb 2, w 1, nb 1) 4











Total (9 wickets; 50 overs; 219 mins) 298 (5.96 runs per over)
Fall of wickets1-0 (Taylor, 0.1 ov), 2-7 (Coventry, 3.3 ov), 3-188 (Ervine, 31.2 ov), 4-193 (Chigumbura, 32.4 ov), 5-201 (Taibu, 33.6 ov), 6-219 (Lamb, 37.4 ov), 7-240 (Williams, 41.4 ov), 8-281 (Utseya, 47.4 ov), 9-284 (Cremer, 48.2 ov)










Bowling O M R W Econ

Khurram Chohan 10 0 44 2 4.40 (1nb, 1w)
HS Baidwan 9 0 47 2 5.22


AS Hansra 4 0 41 0 10.25

Rizwan Cheema 9 0 51 1 5.66

WD Balaji Rao 10 0 57 4 5.70


JM Davison 8 0 56 0 7.00










Canada innings (target: 299 runs from 50 overs) R M B 4s 6s SR
JM Davison b Price 0 5 8 0 0 0.00
NR Kumar c & b Price 1 22 10 0 0 10.00
R Gunasekera b Lamb 24 76 64 2 0 37.50
A Bagai*† c Williams b Price 0 1 1 0 0 0.00
AS Hansra st †Taibu b Utseya 20 53 41 1 1 48.78
Rizwan Cheema c Cremer b Utseya 14 9 10 2 1 140.00
ZE Surkari st †Taibu b Lamb 26 70 48 2 0 54.16
TG Gordon lbw b Cremer 7 13 20 1 0 35.00
Khurram Chohan lbw b Cremer 8 22 22 1 0 36.36

HS Baidwan not out 13 29 23 1 0 56.52
WD Balaji Rao b Cremer 1 3 6 0 0 16.66

Extras (w 9) 9











Total (all out; 42.1 overs; 160 mins) 123 (2.91 runs per over)
Fall of wickets1-1 (Davison, 1.3 ov), 2-7 (Kumar, 5.3 ov), 3-7 (Bagai, 5.4 ov), 4-50 (Hansra, 20.3 ov), 5-50 (Gunasekera, 21.1 ov), 6-66 (Rizwan Cheema, 22.5 ov), 7-78 (Gordon, 26.6 ov), 8-97 (Khurram Chohan, 34.3 ov), 9-122 (Surkari, 41.1 ov), 10-123 (Balaji Rao, 42.1 ov)










Bowling O M R W Econ


CB Mpofu 5 1 12 0 2.40 (1w)
RW Price 8 4 16 3 2.00

P Utseya 7 0 24 2 3.42 (2w)
GA Lamb 8 0 29 2 3.62 (6w)
AG Cremer 9.1 1 31 3 3.38


SC Williams 5 0 11 0 2.20

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