Australia's Steve Smith takes a brilliant catch in the deep to dimiss Zimbabwe's Tony Munyonga
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Green takes five as Zimbabwe 200 all out in first Australia ODI | Australia vs Zimbabwe, 1st ODI
Glenn Maxwell hits a six to take Australia to victory in the first one-day international against Zimbabwe
©AFP
All-rounder Cameron Green took 5-33 as Australia bowled out Zimbabwe for 200 in the first one-day international at the Riverway Stadium in Townsville on Sunday.
Match Summary
Australia 201/5 (33.3 ov)
Zimbabwe 200/10 (47.3 ov)
Result: Australia won by 5 wickets
Player of the Match: Cameron Green
Top Series Stats
Match Report
Zimbabwe, playing their first series in Australia since 2004, went into the match as the underdogs against a full strength home side.
Their openers got through the first 10 overs without losing a wicket, seeing off the first spells of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood relatively comfortably.
But in the 11th over all-rounder Mitchell Marsh made the breakthrough when he dismissed Innocent Kaia for 17, leaving Zimbabwe 42-1.
They pushed on to 87 before impressive opener Tadiwanashe Marumani (45) tried to charge leg-spinner Adam Zampa, only to miss the ball with a big heave and lose his middle stump.
Zimbabwe were scoring steadily and brought the 100 up in the 25th over as Wessly Madhevere and Tony Munyonga began to attack Zampa.
But straight after lifting Zampa over mid-on for a boundary, Munyonga tried to smash him over long-off and was caught brilliantly in the deep by Steve Smith to leave Zimbabwe 104-3.
Zampa was in the action for the fall of the fourth wicket when he caught the dangerous Sikandar Raza on the fine leg boundary off Cameron Green for five.
And he took his third wicket with the final ball of his spell when Madhevere chipped a return catch back to him for his highest ODI score of 72, leaving the visitors 185-5.
The tail had no answer to the pace of the towering Green as Zimbabwe lost their last six wickets for 15 runs to be all out in the 48th over.
MAXI-mum ??
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) August 28, 2022
The 33-year-old is on the attack! #AUSvZIM pic.twitter.com/WRiUeSgpET
Glenn Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 32 off nine balls to take Australia to an easy five-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the first of three one-day internationals at Townsville's Riverway Stadium on Sunday.
Chasing 201 for victory, the Australians reached their target with more than 16 overs to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
All-rounder Cameron Green ripped out the Zimbabwe tail with 5-33 as the visitors collapsed from 185-4 to 200 all out, a total that was never going to be enough against a full-strength Australia.
Australia captain Aaron Finch and David Warner started the run chase positively, scoring at six runs an over until Finch played on to Richard Ngarava for 15, with the score on 43, continuing his recent run of poor form.
Warner was joined by Steve Smith and the pair cruised to 78-1 when Warner was dropped at backward point off Sikandar Raza.
The left-hander rode his luck and raced to 57 before being bowled by Raza, tro leave Australia 108-2 in the 23rd over.
Despite a stutter as Alex Carey, Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh fell to Zimbabwe's spinners Raza (1-45) and Ryan Burl (3-60), the steady Smith and bludgeoning Maxwell saw their side home without further alarm.
Smith accumulated 48 not out off 80 balls while Maxwell clubbed 32 off nine deliveries faced with three fours and three sixes -- two coming from the last two balls -- to race to the target.
Finch said it has been difficult playing against unfamiliar opponents, with Zizmbawe playing their first series in Australia since 2004.
"You do your due diligence beforehand and watch a lot of footage, and when you get to the ground in the morning you watch a few actions to try and get a feel of what you might be facing in the middle," he said.
"I thought we did that really well and I thought our bowlers executed exceptionally well."
Zimbabwe scored steadily in their innings but only opener Tadiwanashe Marumani, who scored 45, and Wessly Madhevere, with 72, were able to get on top of the Australia attack.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa caused the early damage, taking three of the first five wickets to fall as Zimbabwe reached 185-5.
The visitors would have been hoping to reach at least 240 to set a challenging target, but the tail had no answer to the pace of the towering Green as they lost their last six wickets for 15 runs to be all out in the 48th over.
Zimbabwe captain Regis Chakabva conceded that his side's batting was below par.
"I thought that the wicket was a little bit tricky early on and I thought the boys did well to soak up the pressure, but we just didn't have enough runs on the board," he said.
Zimbabwe:Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Innocent Kaia - 10.5 ov), 2-87 (Tadiwanashe Marumani - 20.5 ov), 3-104 (Tony Munyonga - 24.4 ov), 4-122 (Sikandar Raza - 31.2 ov), 5-185 (Wesley Madhevere - 42.6 ov), 6-188 (Regis Chakabva - 44.3 ov), 7-190 (Ryan Burl - 44.6 ov), 8-196 (Luke Jongwe - 46.2 ov), 9-198 (Brad Evans - 46.4 ov), 10-200 (Victor Nyauchi - 47.3 ov)
Australia: Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Aaron Finch - 7.3 ov), 2-108 (David Warner - 22.1 ov), 3-128 (Alex Carey - 25.2 ov), 4-153 (Marcus Stoinis - 29.2 ov), 5-155 (Mitchell Marsh - 29.5 ov)
Playing XIs
Australia: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steven Smith, Alex Carey (WK), Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Zimbabwe: Innocent Kaia, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wesley Madhevere, Tony Munyonga, Sikandar Raza, Regis Chakabva (WK), Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Brad Evans, Richard Ngarava, Victor Nyauchi
Match Details
Toss: Australia won the toss & elected to field
Venue: Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville, Townsville
Start time: 00:40 hrs GMT
Match officials: Umpires: Rod Tucker (Australia) Sam Nogajski (Australia) Paul Reiffel (Australia TV)
Match Referee: David Boon (Australia)
© Cricket World and AFP 2022
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