NAGPUR (Staff Report) – Sean Williams stroked a brisk fifty before the bowlers ensured a second straight win for Zimbabwe after beating Scotland by 11 runs in the World Twenty20 group encounter in Nagpur Thursday.
Electing to bat, Zimbabwe suffered from regular wicket-fall but Williams’ 36-ball 53 enabled the side to post 147 for seven, a score which proved enough against a seemingly brittle Scotland batting.
Skipper Hamilton Masakadza gave the new ball to his brother and left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza who bagged four wickets to help bundle out Scotland for 136 in 19.4 overs.
Zimbabwe though had a terrible start to the match after a mid-pitch collision between the openers which resulted in the run out of Hamilton and an injury to Vusi Sibanda’s chin.
The incident forced a six-minute stoppage time but did little to improve Zimbabwe’s batting prospects as wickets continued to tumble against a discipline Scottish attack.
Williams then mixed the right dose of caution and aggression to guide the side to a respectable score with some help from lower-order batsmen Malcom Waller and Elton Chigumbura.
The Scotland batting also faltered against an inspired Zimbabwe attack that rattled the top-order to reduce them to 20 for four in 3.1 overs.
Richie Berrington and captain Preston Mommsen did put up some fight with their 51-run sixth wicket stand but Zimbabwe bowlers made sure they had the last laugh. Left-arm spinner Wellington bagged four scalps while medium-pacer
Tendai Chatara and Donald Tiripano picked up two wickets each.
Daily Pakistan Global Live Scorecard:
Zimbabwe Squad:
Sean Williams, Tendai Chatara, Wellington Masakadza, Tinashe Panyangara, Hamilton Masakadza (c), Peter Moor, Elton Chigumbura, Sikandar Raza Butt, Richmond Mutumbami, Luke Jongwe, Tendai Chisoro, Neville Madziva, Malcolm Waller, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Graeme Cremer
Scotland Squad:
Preston Mommsen (c), Kyle Coetzer, Alasdair Evans, Calum MacLeod, Con de Lange, Gavin Main, George Munsey, Josh Davey, Mark Watt, Matt Machan, Matthew Cross, Michael Leask, Richie Berrington, Rob Taylor, Safyaan Sharif
A total of 58 tournament matches, including 35 men’s matches and 23 women’s matches, will be played in the 27-day tournament in Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamsala, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi.
The first round matches in the men’s event will take place in Dharamsala and Nagpur from 8-13 March and will feature Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland, debutant Oman (all in Group A), Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong and Afghanistan (all in Group B). In a double-header on the opening day on 8 March, Zimbabwe will face Hong Kong in the afternoon match, to be followed by the evening match between Scotland and Afghanistan. Both the matches will be played in Nagpur.
The group winners will join Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and host India in the Super 10 stage, which will be played alongside the women’s event from 15-28 March.
New Delhi and Mumbai will host the semi-finals on 30 and 31 March, respectively, while Eden Gardens in Kolkata will be the venue of the 3 April finals. The women’s semi-finals and final will be followed by the men’s knock-out matches. There is a reserve day for the finals.
The men’s event will carry a total prize money of $5.6million, which is an 86 per cent increase from the 2014 tournament, while the total prize money for the women’s event is $400,000, which is a 122 per cent increase from the Bangladesh event.
