Chevrons revive World Cup bid

. . . bounce back from Namibia humiliation

THE Chevrons managed to dust themselves up from their disappointing start to the 2023 International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier finals with a convincing nine wickets win over minnows Tanzania at the United Cricket Ground in Windhoek, Namibia yesterday afternoon.

Zimbabwe were humiliated by the hosts, Namibia in their opening match of the campaign on Wednesday and needed to send a strong message against Tanzania, something which they managed to do, convincingly.

In a match where rains were projected to disrupt the proceedings later on, Sikandar Raza won the toss and elected to field first.

The Chevrons bowlers went on to put on a good show with the ball as they restricted their opponents to 96/9 in 20 overs before they went on to chase down the target in 10,4 overs, finishing on 98/1.

However, the Chevrons’ death bowling let them down as in the 17th over, the Tanzanians

were struggling on 55/8 and one wouldn’t have expected that they would score close to a hundred runs. Conceding 48 runs in the last four overs was something that Raza believes they should be worried about.

It was the skipper, Raza who led from the front with the ball for the Chevrons, picking up three wickets for just 10 runs in his four overs, a spell that saw him named player of the match. Fast bowler Richard Ngarava also managed to get his career best T20I figures, finishing on 3/17 in four overs as well much to the jubilation of his captain.

The other wicket takers in the team were Ryan Burl and Tendai Chatara, who picked up one each for 11 and 14 runs respectively. Salum Jumbe, down the order for Tanzania was their top scorer with an unbeaten 24 runs from 14 deliveries while opening batter and captain, Abhik Patwa chipped in with 18 runs off 33 balls.

The only other Tanzanian batter who managed to cross double figures was Ally Kimote with 16 runs from 15 balls.

In their chase, needing to score quickly, Zimbabwe lost the wicket of Innocent Kaia for 21 runs off 18 balls in the fifth over leaving the team on 36/1. It was Sean Williams and Tadiwanashe Marumani who went on to see the team through.

The young Marumani finished unbeaten on 39 runs off 27 balls while the veteran Williams scored 36 runs not out from 19 deliveries. Sanjay Bom took the only wicket for Tanzania, in his only over that he bowled, where he also went for just six runs.

The unbeaten 39 runs not out by Marumani was his highest score in the shortest version of the game surpassing his previous high of 35 runs.

During the post match presentation, Raza was pleased with the way Marumani and Ngarava played. He however, was not pleased with the way they finished their bowling innings.

“It’s a job well done, we try and win the game before we walk into the park and send a message. Going for 48 runs in the last four overs was unacceptable. We will come back stronger next time.

Ngarava is invaluable, if we are in trouble he is the go to guy. I can assure you his graph will grow in the next few months.

“Tadi (Marumani) has done really well, sometimes it’s frustrating for him not to get runs, I’m happy for him that he got runs today so that his confidence is up. Good news that we are taking two days off so that some guys with niggles like Craig Ervine and Carl Mumba will rest and the fast bowlers as well,” said Raza.

The Chevrons, who are now sitting in position four with two points, will return to action on Sunday where they will face Uganda at the same venue.

Only two nations from the seven team competition will book their places to next year’s T20 World Cup which will be co-hosted by the United States of America (USA) and the West Indies. Zimbabwe’s match against Uganda on Sunday is scheduled to start at 9.30am.