John Ndlovu
A euphoric atmosphere engulfed the Harare Sports Club as Zimbabwe inched closer to booking a berth for ICC World Cup after blowing away their more illustrious opponents.
The Chevrons beat West Indies by 35 runs which gave the national cricket team a third victory on the trot in their group A fixture this Saturday.
Chevrons’ treasure Sikandar Raza Butt top scored for Zimbabwe with 68 runs from 58 as the vigilant West Indies bowlers restricted him from claiming consecutive series, while Ryan Burl reached half century. The Chevrons were restricted to 268 after 49.5 overs as they were bowled out by the Indies.
Zimbabwean bowlers gained momentum as they restricted the Indies from reaching the target of 269 runs as Tendai Chatara amassed three wickets for 52 inclusive of the wicket which ensured the win after bowling out Alzari Joseph. While Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava both ammassed 2 wickets for 33 runs and 25 runs respectively.
Kyle Myers top scored for the Indies with 56 runs off 72 balls while Rondon’s chase was only six runs shot of hitting a half century, Nicholas Pooran only reached 34 runs off 36 balls. Keemo Paul was Indies’top bowler as he claimed a hat trick wickets for 61 runs, while Alzari Joseph and Akeal Hossein both claimed double wickets for 42 wickets and 45 wickets respectively.
The win lifted the Chevrons to an unassailable lead in group A with 6 points and only needing 2 wins to qualify for the 2024 ICC World Cup penciled for India.
If Zimbabwe tops the group it means that the Chevrons will finish the campaign without playing a single match in Bulawayo, which will leave the other divide of the fans in the Southern side of the country hungry as they also had a desire to watch the glittering Chevrons in action. One would then assume that whoever made this fixture had thought Windies would top the group, had Zimbabwe finished second they would have played all their Super six games in Bulawayo.
Three days ago, top ICC gaffers met in Bulawayo to try to acclamatise and adjust to conditions in the second largest City in Zimbabwe with an aim of moving all super six games to the City of Queens and Kings. No official communication as yet has been made. But as things stand now all Super Six games for Zimbabwe will be in the Capital.
Interestingly there are no Bulawayo players in the Zimbabwe National Team.
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