Spin Is King As Zimbabwe Humble West Indies

Spin Is King As Zimbabwe Humble West Indies

Prosper Utseya led from the front as his side beat the West Indies by 26 runs.

©REUTERS/Andrew Biraj (BANGLADESH) Picture Supplied by Action Images

Zimbabwe 105 (Sammy 5-26, Benn 4-6) beat
West Indies 79-7 (Cremer 3-11) by 26 runs
Twenty20 International, Port of Spain
Scorecard

Zimbabwe lost three wickets before scoring a run but produced an astonishing comeback to beat the West Indies by 26 runs in a low-scoring Twenty20 International in Trinidad that was dominated by spin bowling.

Sulieman Benn returned four for six before Zimbabwe were bowled out for 105 but in reply, Zimbabwe only bowled one over of pace bowling as they restricted the West Indies to 79 for seven.

Opening the bowling, Benn bowled Vusi Sibanda with the first ball of the match, had Tatenda Taibu trapped in front for a seven-ball duck, had Stuart Matsikenyeri caught behind by Denesh Ramdin and after Zimbabwe had got off the mark in the fourth over, the tall left-armer bowled Brendan Taylor for another duck.

Zimbabwe's innings was held together by Hamilton Masakadza who was bowled off a Kemar Roach no-ball and he went on to strike 44 in 57 balls before a haul of five for 26 from Darren Sammy ushered Zimbabwe towards the end of their innings, Elton Chigumbura offering Masakadza some support with 34 in 19 balls.

The 19th over of the innings went for 22 runs as Ravi Rampaul bowled three no balls before getting it right to bowl Graeme Cremer and Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out in 19.5 overs.

The first ball of the West Indian innings, in stark contrast to Zimbabwe's, produced an overthrow that allowed them to get into the game but they soon began to struggle as Zimbabwe's spinners, led by Ray Price and captain Prosper Utseya, began to profit.

Price had Adrian Barath trapped in front for eight and Utseya had Andre Fletcher caught in the deep first ball before leg-spinner Cremer struck twice in two balls to bowl Kieron Pollard (1) and trap Darren Bravo (0) in front to leave the West Indies wobbling at 32 for four.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul rode his luck, dropped by Cremer and surviving a close stumping appeal but could only make 20 before he was dismissed by Greg Lamb's seventh ball in international cricket which had him trapped in front.

Lamb went on to have Dwayne Smith brilliantly caught at midwicket by Utseya for 12 and once Sammy was bowled by Cremer, who finished with three for 11, the West Indies were finished.

Denesh Ramdin was left stranded on 23, facing 26 balls as the match ended with the home side well short and Zimbabwe delighted. Just 181 runs were mustered by both sides in one of the most remarkable Twenty20 Internationals that has ever been played.

Lamb took two for 14, marking his debut with a strong comeback after he had been bowled leaving a straight ball from Sammy and it was his poor throw that had got the West Indies off the mark.

It was not until the 19th over that Zimbabwe decided to give their spinners a rest and by the time that Chigumbura came on to bowl, the match was as good as over.

The two sides now begin a five-match series of One-Day Interantionals on Thursday, 4th March.

© Cricket World 2010

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