4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

West Indies had an easy victory in the 3rd ODI, reaching the small target of 140 in less than 28 overs. They now lead the series 2-1, and will be hoping to repeat that performance today.

Chanderpaul is sitting this one out. His replacement, Deonarine is playing his first ODI is a few years.

Zimbabwe: 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Chamu Chibhabha, 4 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 5 Brendan Taylor, 6 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Keith Dabengwa, 9 Prosper Utseya (capt), 10 Gary Brent, 11 Ray Price

West Indies: 1 Devon Smith, 2 Brenton Parchment, 3 Runako Morton, 4 Narsingh Deonarine, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo (capt), 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Rawl Lewis, 9 Daren Powell, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Jerome Taylor

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

Powell and Rampaul made the going tough for Zimbabwe's openers, restricting them to 28-0 after 10 overs, but Zimbabwe is finally picking up the pace a bit, now up to 46-0 after 12 overs.

It's been mostly a one-man show though, with Sibanda scoring 32 and Masakadza contributing 10.

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

Finally, the partnership is over! Ramdin stumps Masakadza for 80.
Zimbabwe 167-1 after 37.

That was a record opening partnersip for Zimbabwe!

A far better batting performance than what they showed in the previous ODI.

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

And now Taylor gets both Chgumbura and Taibu in the same over.

The next batsman in yields the always popular:
Taylor to Taylor, no run

Zimbabwe 176-3 after 39

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

Sibanda run out for 96! That's tough luck.

Zimbabwe 194-4 after 42.1

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

Taylor picks up his third wicket, this time he bowls Matsikenyeri.

Zimbabwe 209-5 after 45.

West Indies have done a decent job of limiting the run rate, despite that opening partnership and Zimbabwe having all those wickets in hand.

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

Dabengwa out, Jerome Taylor gets his fourth!

Zimbabwe 213-6 after 46.1

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

Taylor bowls Chibhabha, that's his fifth wicket of the day!

Despite that incredible opening partnership from Masakadza and Sibanda, it just might be Jerome Taylor who's setting himself up to be the player of the match.

216-7 after 47

cleazer · Dec 7, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

Zimbabwe finish their 50 overs at 232-9

Jerome Taylor and Dwayne Bravo did a great job of bowling the final 10 overs, yielding only 53 runs, despite that great opening partnership leaving Zimbabwe so many wickets to play with.

In fact, over the final 12 overs, Zimbabwe was 59-8.

The big question now is if the West Indies batsmen are up to the task. Lara is long gone, and Gayle, Sarwan, and Chanderpaul are all missing today too. I don't think they can rely on just Morton, Samuels, and Bravo today. Some of their newer batsmen are going to have to step up and score some runs.

Ljp86 · Dec 8, 2007

Re: 4th ODI: Zimbabwe v West Indies at Bulawayo

Wow, great bowling by Jerome Taylor, 5/48, a supreme effort. If it weren't for the openers and Brendan Taylor, the Zimbabwe batting card would have looked very, very bad. All single figure scores except for those three.

West Indies reply didn't start too well. Devon Smith was out on the first ball of the game to Elton Chigumbura. Brenton Parchment was out for 25 to leave West Indies at 2/61. Runako Morton and Marlon Samuels combined for a partnership of 105 which was ended by Ray Price which saw Morton on his way. Samuels and Deonarine both fell to Prosper Utseya but Zimbabwe’s total was never going to be enough and West Indies have won by five wickets.

Dwayne Bravo finishes on 41 not out, getting the Windies over the line. Denesh Ramdin was also there at the end on 5 not out.

Utseya was the best bowler for Zimbabwe, taking 3/40 from his ten overs. Another good bowling effort from the captain but he’s really got the middle and lower order to blame. After such a good start, Zimbabwe were very poor in the end and failed to build start that was built by the openers. Sibanda and Masakadza should also be quite annoyed that their team didn’t score much more runs.

Anyway, West Indies were too good in the end despite a spirited effort from Zimbabwe. This series hasn’t been the whitewash everyone predicted with Zimbabwe putting up a fight in almost every contest. They’ve lost the series 3-1 but they can at least say they’ve been competitive for the most part.

Man of the Match was Jerome Taylor for his five wicket haul.

The 5th and final game of the series is at Bulawayo starting on Sunday.

cleazer · Dec 8, 2007