Zim looks for strong finish against Netherlands
ZIFA Southern Region Division One League log leaders Hwange continued with their march towards an early return to the top flight when they hammered Zimbabwe Saints 4-0 at White City Stadium’s B-arena yesterday.
Eddie Nkhulungo opened the scoring for Hwange with a free kick from the edge of
AFTER securing qualification to the International Cricket Council Men’s Twenty20 World Cup to be held in Australia later on this year, Zimbabwe will look to finish things off when they clash with the Netherlands in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B final at Queens Sports Club this afternoon.
Zimbabwe made sure of their place in Australia when they defeated Papua New Guinea by 27 runs in a semifinal encounter on Friday. The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is scheduled for 16 October to 13 November.
By qualifying for the Men’s T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe ended a six year wait to return to a major ICC tournament. The Chevrons last appeared at the T20 World Cup in 2016 when the tournament was held in India where they were eliminated in the first round.
It has been a brilliant tournament thus far for the Dave Houghton coached team as they are yet to taste defeat in all the four matches they played. Monday saw them hammer Singapore by 111 runs, a day they posted 236/5 their highest ever score in T20 Internationals, followed that up with victory by 23 runs over Jersey before they blasted the United States of America by 46 runs to top Group A.
On Friday, Zimbabwe made sure of a ticket to Australia when they saw off Papua New the box before Gift Gumpo made it 2-0 with an unstoppable grounder, with the third coming James Chivasa before Courage Sibanda rounded finished off the rout.
The win saw Chipangano maintain a three points lead at the top of the log as second Arenel Movers picked up a 2-1 win over Quality Foods. ZPC Hwange, occupants of third spot also kept up the pressure on the top two with a 3-2 win over Makhandeni Pirates.
Guinea by 27 runs after managing to defend 199. Today’s final promises to be an exciting match since its featuring yet to lose teams in the tournament.
Fans have come in their numbers to back Craig Ervine and the rest of the boys. Now that the team has not disappointed as was the case in 2018 when all Zimbabwe needed to do was beat the United Arab Emirates to qualify for the 50 over World Cup in England, something they failed to do, the fans are expected to come in their thousands. Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams have stood out with the bat for Zimbabwe in this tournament. Both have notched up two half centuries each. Raza has twice been named Player of the Match while Williams has one such accolade. Zimbabwean players failed to win the award just once in the tournament against PNG when the accolade went to the losing team’s Tony Ura whose half century gave them home in the run chase.
Zimbabwe will look to build their innings around Raza and Williams. Openers, Ervine as
Full results
Arenel 2-1 Quality Foods, Ratanang 3-0 Indonsakusa, CIWU 1-1 Mainline, Mountain Climbers 0-2 Ajax Hotspurs, Makhandeni 2-3 ZPC Hwange, Zimbabwe Saints 0-4 Hwange, Mosi Rovers 2-1 Bosso 90, Binga Pirates 2-0 Casmyn
Fixtures
Today: Talen Vision v Indlovu Iyanyathela (Filabusi) — Follow on Twitter @ Mdawini_29 well as Regis Chakabva have laid the platform for the big hitters to come in and tear apart the opposition bowling attack. Wessley Madhevere managed to regain his run scoring form with a vital 42 in Zimbabwe’s triumph over PNG after being dropped against the USA.
Blessing Muzarabani is expected to spearhead the Zimbabwean bowling attack with assistance from fellow seamers Richard Ngarava and Luke Jongwe. The spinners have played a huge part in Zimbabwe’s success in the tournament. Williams, Raza, Ryan Burl and Wellington Masakadza are once again expected to aid the seamers, especially if the track is a slow one.
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