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Abhishek Singh ∙ 17 Sep 2021

SCO vs ZIM | Déjà vu at Grange as Richard Ngarava, Wellington Masakadza defend 136 for Zimbabwe

It was a situation of déjà vu at the Grange Cricket Club ground in Edinburgh, Scotland as Zimbabwe went on to defend a paltry total of 136 against Scotland to win the second T20I and level the three-match series 1-1 having lost the first game in a similar fashion on Wednesday, September 15. In the last match, Zimbabwe were cruising at 112-4 in the 17th over 30 required to win the game from 21 balls and Sean Williams and Milton Shumba batting on 28 each before something got to Williams and he played it straight to the fielder. Guess what happened in this game? Hero from the last match for Scotland, Richie Berrington and Matthew Cross were cruising the Scottish team to a win with only 45 runs needed from 36 balls. Berrington, however, decided to launch Willaims over the cow corner, eventually getting caught at deep square leg by Wesley Madhevere, providing that little window of opportunity for the Zimbabweans to sneak and snuck they did. Post the Berrington wicket, there was still hope as Cross developed a decent partnership with new batter Michael Leask and courtesy of that 19 run stand, Scotland needed 27 from the last three. What happens, just the way Luke Jongwe was caught in the first game at fine leg when the Chevrons needed 17 from 10 balls. After Cross’ dismissal, everything depended on Leask and by hitting a six off Jongwe’s fifth delivery and ultimately bringing the equation down to 17 from 12 balls, he harboured confidence of some 400 odd supporters gathered at the ground. Leask was also offered a lease as he was dropped on the very first ball of the nineteenth over bowled by Richard Ngrava. Even after the drop catch and two runs off the first ball, the men in blue could only get four runs from one of the best penultimate overs delivered at the Grange. With 13 needed from the last over, the ball was handed to Wellington Masakadza and he delivered on the faith getting Shaffian Sharf off the very first ball and putting pressure on Leask. The 30-year-old all-rounder ran mark Watt out on the second ball to get to the crease for the last four balls. However, it was to no avail as Leask himself got out on the third ball trying to hit it out of the park and eventually holing out to Williams at long-on. The last wicket was once again a run out on the fourth ball where numbers 10 and eleven tried to run two runs and a rocket throw from Madhevere saw the end of Alasdair Evans. Thus with four wickets and only two runs coming from the last over, Zimbabwe took the game by 10 runs. Earlier in the day, having won the toss and decided to bat first, the men in red and gold didn’t have a great start and were reduced to 20-3 in the first three overs before skipper Craig Ervine and Willaims stitched together a 71 run stand which was broken after Ervine was removed by Leask. Shumba, the lone ranger from the last game didn’t last long in this one and Zimbabwe were 94-5 with 26 balls still to go. Williams, who was joined by Ryan Burl on the crease, reached only his seventh fifty on T20I cricket in his 49th match as he also crossed the milestone of 1000 T20I runs and became only the second Zimbabwean after Hamilton Masakadza to score more than 1000 runs in all three formats of the game. Together with Burl, he added 42 runs for the sixth wicket to get Zimbabwe to 136 at the end of 20 overs. With the ball, Zimbabwe had a great start once again as they reduced Scotland to 16-4 in the first four overs itself before Berrington and Cross got together. The two teams will now meet for one last tie in the series on Sunday for the third and final T20I, which would also be played at the Grange.

Zimbabwe pull a rabbit out of their hat as Ngarava defends six in last over to beat Ireland

Zimbabwe defended their second-lowest T20I total ever as they stopped Ireland from chasing down 117, eventually winning the match by 03 runs at Castle Avenue, Clontarf to lead the five-match series 1-0. Prior to the 117 today, they had defended 110 against West Indies in 2010. In today’s match, the bowlers turned out to be the real hero, especially Richard Ngarava who bowled a magical 20th over, giving away only two runs when six were required for a win and five for a tie. He not only conceded two runs but also kept the dangerman, Simi Singh, off the strike. Simi Singh, before that over had hit 26 off just 18 balls. In the last over, Singh could only hit two of the four deliveries that he faced, including a single off the last ball when at least four was required to tie the game. The end might not have been ideal for Ireland, but the start to chase was surely one. With Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien getting in the groove, it seemed like an easy chase for the Irish as they raced away to 27 without a loss. However, once Stirling was removed by Jongwe, things started to change as soon skipper Andrew Balbirnie was removed as well. Getting into a rhythm, the Zimbabwe spin bowlers began exploiting the huge size of the ground with their flight and getting the Irish players caught in the deep and pressure mounting ever so more. Within the space of 44 balls and 44 runs, the Men in Green lost six key wickets and the Chevrons were all over them. Wellington Masakadza and Ryan Burl took five of those six wickets. It then took a brilliant inning from Simi Singh to get the team back in the mix and almost set them as favourites to win at the end of the 18th over with only 12 runs required from the last two. However, first Luke Jongwe and then Ngrava made sure that the firm favourites were shocked, Jonge gave only six runs in the 19th over to keep Zimbabwe in the game and then Ngarava took them home. Earlier in the morning, after losing the toss and being invited to bat first, Zimbabwe, who were playing without their superstars such as Sean Williams, Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza managed to get to 117 courtesy of Regis Chakabva’s 47 and Masakadza’s unbeaten 19 0ff 15 balls.

ZIM vs BAN | Wessley Madhevere, Masakadza help the hosts level T20I series with scintillating win

Going into the second T20I, the Zimbabwe team were under huge pressure having lost the one-off Test, being whitewashed in the ODI series 3-0 and then humbled in the first T20I by eight wickets. But credit to their belief and skills on display on Friday, July 23 at the Harare Sports Club, Harare that they came out triumphant and managed to level the series and gave themselves hope to win the shortest format of the three format Bangladesh’s tour of their nation. Wessley Madhevere was the star of the show for the hosts as he hit his third fifty and highest individual T20I score of 73 from 57 balls to take Zimbabwe to a total of 166 in the 20 overs. But along with Madhevere, the Zimbabwean bowlers were superb as well with Wellington Masakadza and Blessing Muzarabani making inroads into the Bangladesh innings and in the end getting them all out for 143 and winning the game by 23 runs. The Bangladeshi chase didn’t start well at all with both the openers, their heroes from the last game getting dismissed in the third over of the innings by Muzarabani. Once Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar were dismissed, the bowlers in Red and Gold got bold and started attacking, even more, eventually removing Shakib Al Hasan, skipperMahmudullah and big-hitting Mahedi Hasan even before the team score touched 70. Nurul Hasan, another of the cameo players from the last two games could not do much either. Debutant Shamim Hossain Patwari and Afif Hossain tried to make chase out of an otherwise disappointing effort till then. Patwarihit same gleeful and extraordinary shops for a 20-year-old, leaving up to his selection on the basis of the Dhaka PremnierLeaguie performances. However one shot too many meant that the 23 balls 41 runs partnership was brought to an end by Luke Jongwe as Patwari departed for 29 off 12 balls. At 109-7, the game was still alive as Mohammad Sifudiin, a proven talent with the bat joined Afif who had already starred with the bat in two of Bangladesh’s ODIs wins so far. But it wasn’t simply his day as he was caught at the deep fine leg by Milton Shumba off a short ball by Tendai Chatara. The formalities were then completed by Jongwe as he picked two wickets in the last over and got his side to a much-needed win. Earlier in the day, after winning the toss, Zimbabwe skipper SikanderRaza won the toss and decided to bat first. And even after Regis Chakabva, Tadiwanashe Marumani and skipper Raza failing himself, Madhever with the help of Dion Myers in the middle and some late blows oi Ryan Burl took their team to a defendable total. The 20-year-old right-hander was eventually awarded man of the match for his brilliant innings. Reacting to the win, the Zimbabwe skipper Raza said, “Today we managed to tick a lot more boxes than we managed yesterday. I would have taken 166 at the start of the match and with a young squad, it gives us confidence.” The 35-year-old, 105 ODIs veteran further hoped that the team will stick to the plan in the final game as well. “We back ourselves to defend... Blessing listened to the team plan... and hopefully, we all listen to the team plan for the final game!" On the other hand, Mahmudullah was disappointed with his team’s effort and said, “We didn't have a good partnership and missed a few chances in the field. We need to look into those areas and come back stronger." The two teams meet next on Sunday, July 25 for the final match of the tour as well as the series.

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SCO vs ZIM | Déjà vu at Grange as Richard Ngarava, Wellington Masakadza defend 136 for Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe pull a rabbit out of their hat as Ngarava defends six in last over to beat Ireland

ZIM vs BAN | Wessley Madhevere, Masakadza help the hosts level T20I series with scintillating win