Pakistan complete series comeback

Brandon Moyo-Zimpapers Sports Hub

THE Chevrons produced yet another dismal performance as they suffered a 99- run defeat against Pakistan in the third and final One Day International cricket match at Queens Sports Club yesterday. 

Zimbabwe were outplayed by the visitors with both bat and ball as the latter secured yet another overseas victory, coming from one nil down to win 2-1. 

Pakistan have now made it back-to-back 2-1 victories overseas, having beaten Australia a fortnight ago and the Chevrons yesterday. 

In yesterday’s decider, the visitors won the toss and elected to bat first and went on to score a massive 303/6 in their 50 overs. 

Tasked with chasing a mammoth 304 target, the Chevrons could only manage to amass 204 runs as they were bowled out in 40, 1 overs to lose the series. 

Chevrons head coach, Justin Sammons who was in charge of his first series as the Zimbabwe national team gaffer said they were out-skilled by their opponents. 

Sammons added that batters need to take a look at themselves and reflect on their performance after a bad series. 

“This is our first look at an ODI series but it was not through lack of effort. The effort was there but, obviously, a lack of skill at the end of the day. I think tactically we got it a bit wrong in terms of bowling options, especially with our fifth bowler. From a skill point of view, we were out-skilled at the end of the day. We have to go back and keep working to up skill ourselves and to improve. 

“But, ultimately, it comes down to batters for me in the series. They need to go back, look at themselves in the mirror be honest in terms of their reflections, and find ways to come back better,” said Sammons. 

Pakistan’s opening batters, Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique notched up a half-century stand for the first wicket before the former was caught on 31 runs off 37 balls. 

After the first wicket fell, Kamran Ghulam walked in and produced a stellar performance that saw him bring up his career-best score. 

Ghulam scored a brilliant 103 runs off 99 deliveries, his maiden ODI ton having gone into the game with a best score of 17. 

Shafique chipped in with 50 runs off 68 balls. There were three players for the visitors who fell in the 30s. 

Ayub made 31 runs from 37 balls while the skipper Mohammad Rizwan fell for 37 runs off 47 balls. Salman Agha chipped in with 30 runs after facing 26 deliveries. 

Sikandar Raza and Richard Ngarava picked up two wickets apiece for the Chevrons. 

Raza finished with figures of 2/47 in his 10-over spell while Ngarava had figures of 2/55 also in 10 overs. 

Blessing Muzarabani and Faraz Akram picked up one scalp apiece for the hosts as Pakistan set them a mammoth score to chase. 

Zimbabwe’s struggles with the bat continued in this game as they lost wickets at regular intervals. 

The hosts lost their first two wickets as early as the third over with Joylord Gumbie and Dion Myers falling with four balls of each other. 

The wickets left Zimbabwe reeling on 10/2 in 2,5 overs before Craig Ervine and Tadiwanashe Marumani notched up a 39-run stand for the third wicket. Marumani would go on to fall in the ninth over for 24 runs off 30 balls. 

Skipper, Ervine top-scored for Zimbabwe with 51 runs from 63 balls while young sensation, Brian Bennett chipped in with 37 runs from 27 deliveries. 

Sean Williams also scored 24 runs from 29 balls while Clive Madande – who was playing his first game of the series – chipped in with 20 runs off 32 deliveries. Ngarava and Raza made 17 and 16 runs respectively. 

Ayub, Abrar Ahmed, Harris Rauf, and Aamer Jamal, picked up two wickets each for Pakistan while Faisal Akram and Ghulam took one apiece. 

With the one-day series gone, next up is the T20I series which gets underway on Sunday. The match on Sunday is scheduled to start at 1pm.