Absurd end to match

Bangladesh hang on

YOU think you have seen it all in this game, and then Bangladesh’s wicketkeeper is called for taking the ball in front of the stumps off the final ball of a World Cup game.

This tournament has provided its share of last-ball thrills and spills – as well as rain – but nothing, perhaps, that has equalled the moment that elevated a potentially nondescript game between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh into the theatre of the absurd.

With five runs required off the final ball, Blessing Muzarabani, Zimbabwe’s No. 10, swung, missed, was stumped and walked off. Then it transpired that the umpires were checking to see whether the Bangladesh wicketkeeper, Nurul Hasan, had taken the ball in front of the stumps.

He had. A no-ball and a free hit was called. The players went back on the field and Muzarabani, counting his blessings, aimed another mighty heave to the leg side. He missed again, Bangladesh breathed a sigh of relief and Zimbabwe’s brave effort had come to nothing.

Zimbabwe have been the good-news story of the tournament, winning three of their four completed matches until the defeat by Bangladesh, and playing with joyous spirit.

The late stand between Ryan Burl and Sean Williams, hauling their team to within sight of the winning post when seemingly dead and buried, reflected much of the evident energy, purpose and spirit that has made its way back into the Zimbabwe team after years of turmoil, neglect and decline.

The leg-spinning all-rounder Burl, you may remember, posted a message in May last year, alongside a photograph, that seemed to sum up cricket in Zimbabwe: a cricket boot, with sole glued to shoe and held together by a clamp.

“Any chance we can get a sponsor so we don’t have to glue our shoes back after every series,” he tweeted.

Their performances in this tournament have suggested a more promising future.

The defeat of Pakistan was a significant one, with the bowlers and fielders holding their nerve rather better than they did against Bangladesh.

At the heart of this improvement has been the 36year-old all-rounder Sikandar Raza, who has won three manof-the-match awards in this tournament already and has an interesting backstory: born in northeast Pakistan, he wanted to become a fighter pilot until he failed an eye test; he then studied in Scotland before moving to Zimbabwe with his family.

This World Cup is Zimbabwe’s first ICC event since 2016. Against Bangladesh, Burl and Williams took them desperately close with a partnership worth 63 in seven overs, Burl sprinting back and forth in his new red shoes, courtesy of the sponsor that answered his distress signal last year.

A player and a team rebooted and revitalised.