The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
AN unbeaten half-century by Gary Ballance was but the tip of the iceberg of many talking points of Zimbabwe’s seven-wicket victory over the Netherlands at Harare Sports Club yesterday. The win gave Zimbabwe the three-match series, which they took 2-1.
However, with both nations out of the running for the automatic eight top spots that will qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup on the Super League log standing, the series provided both sets of technical teams a chance to experiment and seize up the oppositions.
The Netherlands will be back here again for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, which Zimbabwe is hosting from June 18 to July 9.
Two of the major talking points from the series, and more specifically yesterday’s victory, pertain to Zimbabwe’s top order.
The Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat, getting off to a blistering start, courtesy of a solid opening stand by Vikramjit Singh and Max O’Dowd.
The Dutch pair put up a 67 runs off 82 balls during their opening partnership, with O’Dowd top-scoring for his side with 38 runs off 43 balls. That was before he was caught out by the returning Richard Ngarava off the bowling of Blessing Muzarabani in the 13th over. His partner Singh (27) did not last long after that, falling roughly three overs later when he was caught by Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine off the bowling of Sikandar Raza.
Raza’s introduction, and that of fellow spinners Wessly Madhevere and Sean Williams, seemed to tilt the game in Zimbabwe’s favour as runs dried up and boundaries were few and far in between.
With the exceptions of cameo knocks by Collin Ackerman (37) and Musa Ahmed (29) — who shared a third-wicket stand of 60 runs off 79 balls — the Netherlands never seemed to get back in the game.
And 231 runs for nine never seemed like a defendable score. Zimbabwe’s trio of Raza, Madhevere and Williams did most of the damage, taking six wickets between them.
The three bowled a collective 30 overs.
Williams finished the pick of the Zimbabwean bowlers, taking three wickets for 41 runs, while Raza chipped in two for 55 runs.
It was then that Zimbabwe’s top-order one-upped their opposition as Madhevere, Ervine, Ballance and Williams all made match-winning contributions.
Zimbabwe’s batting woes have always been a bone of contention as, more often than not, the Chevrons’ top order falls cheaply and burdens their middle order and tail with most of the heavy lifting. In fact, during this just-ended series, Zimbabwe has had to rely on the exploits of Clive Madande and Williams to bring some respectability to their totals.
Madande’s 74 runs off 98 balls during the first ODI helped the Chevrons to 249, albeit on a losing note, and Williams’ 77 runs of 73 balls turned out to be match-winning innings in the second.
The Chevrons’ top order showed glimpses of what they are capable of doing during yesterday’s win, as Ervine and Madhevere’s 96 runs off 108 balls gave Zimbabwe a solid start to their run chase.
Granted, 231 was not much of a target, but the pitch looked to be spin-friendly.
A crucial third-wicket partnership between Balance and Williams soon followed, with the pair piling up 96 runs off 113 balls to move the Chevrons to within touching distance of their target.
What these two partnerships did was give Raza, another key talking point, the freedom to play to his strengths as he blasted a quickfire 18 runs off nine balls that helped Zimbabwe cross the finishing line.
It was a cameo Raza badly needed as he has failed to really affect the game with the bat all series.
Ballance and Madhevere were also able to convert their good starts, with the pair making half centuries to the winning cause.
Ballance top-scored for the Chevrons with an unbeaten 64 runs off 72 balls, which included eight boundaries, while Madhevere made 50 runs off 61 balls that included seven boundaries.
While Williams was named both the Man-of-the-Match and series for his 43 runs and three for 41, there were a couple of other players who put their hands during the series.
Madande had a pair of good innings with the bat during the first two games, scoring back-to-back half centuries (74 and 52).
Madhevere has future star written all over him.
The 22-year-old took his first hattrick during the second ODI, a performance that is sure to give him a lot of confidence going forward.
Ballance needs more innings and performances like yesterday’s game, otherwise, in the 33-year-old batter, Zimbabwe could have a vital cog of their top order.
There appears to be plenty of fight left in Sean Williams, as the 36-year-old easily returned back into the team with two match-winning cameos of 77 and 43 runs in the second and third ODIs.
