Raza all-round performance & bowlers set up Zimbabwe's clinical victory
Sikandar Raza crushed his way to a 48-ball 82 to assist Zimbabwe with posting 174/7 before the bowlers assumed responsibility to sink Ireland in chase. The pacers and the spinners alternated to gouge the chasing side, getting them 31-run short at last.
PowerPlay troubles for Zimbabwe
Joshua Little struck second ball, inspiring it to nip once more into opener Regis Chakabva who could scratch the length ball to Lorcan Tucker behind the stumps. No.3 batter Wesley Madhevere showed up ready to brawl, hitting four quick boundaries however was scattered by bouncer from Little, pulling it Gareth Delaney at deep backward square leg. By the 6th over, skipper Craig Ervine was gone as well, falling flat with a dance down the track against Simi Singh.
The Sikandar Raza show
Raza left and took the game by the mess of its neck. Ireland attempted to bounce him out as well, just for the in-form right-hander to pull away with scorn at each opportunity. In the 10th over, he got his front leg far removed against Curtis Campher and kept the ball over deep square leg. He hit one more six in a similar region - a lot flatter this time- off a cutter. Sean Williams was gradually beginning to join the party before Imprint Adair and Harry Tector combined at the boundary line to break a promising 42-run stand the fourth wicket off 27 balls.
Raza carried on the batting juggernaut and raised a 26-ball half-century - the second quickest for Zimbabwe in a T20 World Cup (after Elton Chigumbura's 21-ball exertion against UAE in the 2014 edition). This was likewise Raza's first in a World Cup and 6th generally in the format. He proceeded to get done with a 48-ball 82 - with 50 of those approaching in fours and sixes (5 fours, 5 sixes).
The Luke Jongwe push
Raza carried the team through the middle-overs to push past 150, but Zimbabwe received a late shot in the arm in the form of a Luke Jongwe cameo. The #8 batter hit three fours on his way to an unbeaten 20 off 10 balls as Zimbabwe managed 33 off the last 18 deliveries to post a total in excess of 170.
Zimbabwe pair clatter Ireland
Ireland's chase was shaken by Zimbabwe's quick bowling couple of Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani. Ngarava brought his left-armer's angle into play earlycleaning up the dangerous Paul Stirling with a pinch sponsor on the second ball of the innings - identical from what Joshua Little pulled off against Regis Chakabva.An adventurous Tucker too was bowled off Ngarava, when he tried to switch across and play behind square and missed a full ball. Muzarabani bowled in the fourth stump channel and extricated some additional bounce to get Andrew Balbirnie and Tector to edge one to Ervine at first slip.
Recovery and relapse in middle-overs
George Dockrell and Curtis Campher got the pieces in chase from 22 for 4 in the fourth over to push for a recuperation. They found a shackles-breaking outlet in Jongwe, who surrendered four boundaries to the pair in two overs just after the PowerPlay. But a change of attack put another halt to Ireland's attempted march ahead. Raza got back to torment Ireland as he struck on the second ball of his first over, firing a quick delivery to castle Dockrell for a 20-ball 24. The 42-run stand among Dockrell and Campher turned out to be Ireland's best as Zimbabwe got chipping far starting here on.
Williams soon cleaned up the other set batter - Campher - to leave Ireland tottering at 91 for 6 in the 13th over. Two overs later, medium pacer Tendai Chatara dismissed Gareth Delany and Simi Singh off successive deliveries. Muzarabani then returned to pick his third wicket of the evening to reduce Ireland to 111 for 9.
Barry McCarthy (22* off 16) and Little delayed the unavoidable with a 32-run stand the last wicket however that was simple encouragement as Ireland missed the mark in chase.
Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 174/8 in 20 overs (Sikandar Raza 84, Luke Jongwe 20; Joshua Little 3-24) beat Ireland 143/9 in 20 overs (Curtis Campher 27, George Dockrell 24, Gareth Delany 24; Blessing Muzarabani 3-23, Richard Ngarava 2-22, Tendai Chatara 2-22) by 31 runs.
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