Bravo Hurries The West Indies Home Against Zimbabwe
Dwayne Bravo, who scored a quickfire 45 as his side beat Zimbabwe comprehensively in Bulawayo.
©REUTERS/Andy Clark (JAMAICA) Picture Supplied by Action Images
Ravi Rampaul.
©Action Images / Jason Cairnduff Livepic
139 (Taylor 3-18, Rampaul 3-29, Powell 3-32)
West Indies 142-4 (Bravo 45no)
West Indies won by six wickets and lead the five-match series 2-1
Dwayne Bravo celebrated his first match as captain of the West Indies by smashing an unbeaten 45 from 24 balls to finish off a comprehensive six-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the third one-day international in Harare.
Both sides carried on from where they left off in the previous game as Zimbabwe were shot out for just 139 before the West Indies needed only 27.5 overs to reach victory.
West Indies lost openers Devon Smith (one) and Brenton Parchment (15), both to Elton Chigumbura, but still managed to make a flying start.
Prosper Utseya grabbed the wickets of Runako Morton (38) and Marlon Samuels (four) but with so few runs to chase, the result was never in doubt, especially since Bravo was in no mood to hang around, striking three sixes and six fours to put Zimbabwe out of their misery and put West Indies ahead in the series.
Earlier, Ravi Rampaul, Daren Powell, and Jerome Taylor claimed three wickets each as the Zimbabwean batting line up fell apart. The tone was set early on as Vusi Sibanda, Brendan Taylor, Chamu Chibhabha and Hamilton Masakadza all fell for single figure scores after the West Indians won the toss and elected to field first.
Tatenda Taibu (32) was doing a good job of repairing the damage before he was bowled in Rawl Lewis's first over.
Taylor and Lewis then picked up their second wickets with the dismissals of Hamilton Masakadza (16), and Chigumbura (two). Keith Dabengwa (26 not out) showed some fight but it wasn't enough to get his side anywhere near a competitive score.
Chris Gayle did not recover from his hamstring injury, meaning Parchment was handed a debut with Dwayne Bravo taking over as captain.
© Cricket World 2007
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