Story Zimbabwe Down Under - 2nd ODI - Zimbabwe Win Toss & Bat, Two Changes

[Aislabie]

ODI side, thanks for pointing that out though - fixed now.

 

[Pakistani Army]

It still looks a big ask for the Zimbabweans. But the beauty of One-Day International cricket is that you can not tell. Although on paper, I would definitely back the Australians for another win.

 

[Prithvi]

Ponting in the t20 side! Zimbabwe will win this comfortably

Nopes, its a ODI game!

I'm eagerly waiting to See how does Ponting do in batting power play overs-without much of establishing himself part! I wonder if he gets a chance to bat, if top order bats perfectly!

 

[Aditya]

I'm expecting a century from Ponting. I don't really see Zimbabwe beating Australia. I agree, that Australia's performance hasn't been too good over the last couple of months but still Zimbabwe cannot beat them in ODI's. Maybe in T20's.

@The Author - Keep up the good work!

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Australia v Zimbabwe
First One Day International at
Wooloogabba, Brisbane​

Johnson Rips Heart Out of Zimbabwean Batting

For the first five overs, new ball pair Peter Siddle and Shane Watson kept things very tight, with just thirteen runs, and no boundaries, being scored. Still, both batsmen looked settled, having started chancelessly. In Watson's third over, Coventry broke the shackles sublimely, hammering a cover drive for four, although he almost got caught trying to repeat the shot. From this point, Coventry took up the role of aggressor in the partnership, while Masakadza prodded ones and twos.

By the ninth over, Coventry had again found the fence with a textbook flick off his legs, timed to perfection. He also continued to be quick on the drive, hitting a two through cover and a single down to long on. When McKay came into the attack, Coventry survived a very strong shout for LBW that replays showed was just sliding past the leg stump. Fighting fire with fire, the bespectacled batsman came straight back by flicking a ball from off stump through backward square leg for another boundary. This seemed to have provoked his opening batsman out of his stupor, because he smacked two long hops from Watson square of the wicket for boundaries.

Perhaps Coventry got over-excited because from the first ball of the thirteenth over he tried to thump McKay over his head for six and succeeded only in edging the ball onto his pad and getting caught by Mitchell Johnson at the unusual position of short leg. He was replaced by classy Craig Ervine, who came in and quickly got off the mark with a textbook cover drive. Masakadza then cut anoher boundary from another Watson long hop, moving the score on to sixty, where it stayed for the rest of the over. Craig Ervine continued to play with an inordinate amount of time, pushing the ball easily into the gaps. Indeed, he managed to flat-bat an attempted bouncer from Clint McKay between mid-on and the bowler for four.

Someone who didn't have enough time was Masakadza who was late down on a Johnson yorker, and was trapped LBW for 31 with the score on 73 - another batsman who made a start but didn't go on. He was replaced by captain Taylor, who calmly blocked his first ball to give Ervine the strike. Ervine made good use of it, planting McKay for another boundary through cover. He looked a million dollars, which made it all the worse when he flashed at a wide half volley from Johnson to be caught by Dave Hussey at slip. Williams joined Taylor with a view to rebuilding the innings. They had an interesting way of going about it, pushing the ball to short cover and runing for a non-existant single. Taylor was gone, and Australia had got right on top. Just eight singles came from the next five overs, and Australia saw the opportunity to sneak in some quick overs from James Hopes.

The Zimbabwean batsmen decided that Hopes was the bowler that had to get some treatment, and Taibu appeared to be up to the challenge, smacking three consecutive fours through square leg, third man and extra cover. When Watson decided to keep some of Mitchell Johnson's overs for the death, Taibu climbed into a short ball from Siddle and turned it off his hip for four. Another one-bounce four from Hopes took Taibu to 28, twenty ahead of Sean Williams who couldn't seem to get the ball off the square. Taibu left four balls of Siddle's maiden over alone, and then it was time for Williams to face the medium pacer. Again he couldn't get the ball away, and just two runs came from the over. By now, Williams was on just nine from 39 balls, and looked all at sea. Siddle continued to be tight, and Hopes bowled another good over to leave Zimbabwe scoring at just three and a half an over with fifteen left.

Finally, Williams broke the shackles with a free hit from Siddle that he flat batted for four, taking eleven from the over. McKay came back on and again almost claimed a wicket LBW, but was again turned down. Just one run came from the over, though. In his next over, the young Victorian clean bowled the Zimbabwean keeper with an absoloute jaffer. Chigumbura came in to join Willliams and had to get his eye in. This meant, though, that only six runs had come off the last four overs of the powerplay since Siddle took a bit of tap. With ten overs left, Zimbabwe were on just 140 and really had to get a move on ASAP. Chigumbura tried bravely, but failed, missing a straight ball from McKay; Williams too, caught off Hopes. With two new non-batsmen at the crease, Zimbabwe looked to be in a hopeless position. Shingi Masakadza survived two LBW appeals before apparently deciding that his luck would have to run out some time and late-cutting Hopes for a boundary to notch up the 150. He then hit a cover drive right out of the screws from a good ball off Johnson, but it was third time lucky for the Aussies when he was hit on the pads again.

Ray Price was also trapped LBW from the next ball, despite being hit on the thigh and well outside the off stump. Chatara avoided being the victim of the second hattrick in two matches by playing a nice on-drive for a single. Unfortunately, Utseya promptly fell to the fifth LBW of the innings, all of which had been given by Australian umpire Daryl Harper, and Zimbabwe had been skittled for just 157.

SCORECARD

Coventry| ct Johnson b McKay| 29 (40) || Siddle | 10-1-35-0
Masakadza, H | lbw Johnson | 31 (51) || Watson | 7-0-34-0
Ervine | ct Hussey b Johnson | 17 (24) || McKay | 10-1-32-3
Taylor | run out | 2 (6) || Johnson | 9-1-21-5
Williams | ct Johnson b Hopes | 25 (61) || Hopes | 9-0-35-1
Taibu | b McKay | 34 (57) |||
Chigumbura | lbw McKay | 2 (9) |||
Utseya | lbw Johnson | 4 (12) |||
Masakadza, S | lbw Johnson | 9 (11) |||
Price | lbw Johnson | 0 (1) |||
Chatara | not out | 1 (1) |||
| Extras | 3 |||
Total |all out| 157 |||

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Fantasy Cricket Competition
​

Spud Society and Tim's Dynamos Pull Clear

The Author's Spud Society and timchrist's Dynamos have become the first two teams to break the hundred barrier after the first innings of the ODI and the Twenty20. They have opened a sizeable margin over the Winderful Warthogs, who are the only other team to have passed fifty points. Also worth noting are the two teams who are currently in negative points: Swirler's Giants and the Aussie Team who have a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the field.

The two quarter-million players have had differing fortunes so far: Tatenda Taibu is currently the leading player with 60 points to his name while Taylor has slumped to last place with -18 points to his name. It may be worth transferring him out of your teams. For full details of the competition, check out:

WHO PICKED WHO?
THE LEAGUE TABLE
PLAYER BY PLAYER BREAKDOWN​

 

[Pakistani Army]

That was a fantastic spell of bowling from Johnson. It seems as though the Zimbabwean batsman failed to adapt to the swinging ball, aswell as the angle being created as four out of the five wickets Johnson did take were LBW. That said, i felt that the experienced pair of Masakadza and Taibu showed that they can fair at the highest level by each getting into the thirties, respectively.

I feel this should be another cakewalk for the Australians.

 

[Fenil]

Excellent bowling by Johnson-picking up a fifer. A bit surprised that McKay managed to pick 3 wickets.

Zimbabwe needs to improve a lot to throw any challenge to the big teams around.

 

[Prithvi]

Australia has a clear win here. All Zimbabwe must concentrate on is to delay their winning celebration by the most they can!

 

[Aditya]

Johnson was brilliant with the ball. 157 should be a easy chase for the Australians, should be interesting to see how many overs Australia take to chase this target.

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Australia v Zimbabwe
First One Day International at
Wooloogabba, Brisbane​

Are You Kenya In Disguise?

Zimbabwe's opening pair of Shingi Masakadza started well against the Australians, settling straight onto a line and length. They conceded just two runs each, but the hosts knew that they only need a shade over three an over to win the game. While Masakadza continued well, Khawaja began to give Ray Price a little bit of tap, clumping two boundaries in the fourth over. After another over, and another boundary, it was time to take Price off. Chatara replaced him, and made an economical, but not incisive, partner to Masakadza.

It was a shame then, that Shingi started bowling pies. Certainly Brad Haddin had the measure of him, swatting him over extra cover for six. When two successive overs went for sixteen runs between them, it was time for another replacement. So, with 51 for none on the board, it was time for Prosper Utseya, and six balls later, at 62 for none, it was no longer time for Prosper Utseya who had already been comprehensively hit out of the attack. The Australians obviously wanted to get home as quickly as possible, as Khawaja's highly catchable slog for four off Chatara showcased.

Elton Chigumbura managed to reign in the strokemaking somewhat with his first over that leaked only one run. Again, there was only one scoring shot from the next over, but the four runs that were conceded were almost double the required rate. With cruise control firmly on, the convicts batted sensibly - although there was a brief scare when there was a loud caught behind appeal - but the umpire remained unmoved. Recalled by Taylor to bowl from the other end, Utseya sent down a marginally better over; only seven runs this time. The game wasn't just slipping away at this point - it had been dropped off the side of a cliff with Australian captain Watson waiting at the bottom.

The Zimbabweans, playing to chants of "ARE YOU KENYA IN DISGUISE?" started going for wickets rather than trying to stop runs. This meant more gaps, and more boundaries, in Chigumbura's next over - three of them to be precise. Experienced Ray Price had more luck, but he still conceded the single that brought up the unbeaten century partnership. Chigumbura contnued with his pies that four times out of six didn't even force Haddin to play a shot, and Price continued with his tight left arm spin.

It was just about the icing on the cake when Chatara had the plumbest of LBWs turned down by the same umpire that gave four to Johnson and one to McKay. As Taylor turned first to Williams, then to himself with the ball, it seemed nothing could stop the flow of this match towards an inexcusable ten wicket defeat for the home team.

Then, out of nowhere and completely against the run of play, Sean Williams clean bowled the Aussie keeper-batsman. The Zimbabweans were relieved more than pleased to have ended Haddin's assault, but it didn't change the humiliating fact that they had lost the match with 107 deliveries remaining. Man of the match, Mitchell Johnson said, "We shouldn't have to play a test match against a team like that. A state game, maybe, but not a test match." When asked about his own performance, he said, "Yeah, Jess [Bratich] has been teaching me some new warmup moves. They've helped me relax ready to bowl, and look how well I bowled today!"

SCORECARD

Khawaja | not out | 70 (93) || Masakadza | 6-0-27-0
Haddin | b Williams | 81 (95) || Price | 7-0-31-0
Watson | not out | 4 (7) || Chatara | 8-0-35-0
|||| Utseya | 2-0-18-0
|||| Chigumbura | 5-0-28-0
|||| Williams | 3-0-12-1
|||| Taylor | 1.1-0-6-0
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
| Extras | 5 |||
Total |for 1 wicket| 161 |||

AUSTRALIA WON BY 9 WICKETS​

 

[Fenil]

Good knocks by Khwaja and Haddin. Khwaja look well set for a hundred here.

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe Tour of Australia 2011

Fantasy Cricket Competition
​

Everyone Takes a Battering, Spud Society Sitting Pretty

Everyone's teams took a battering after the abysmal bowling display we saw from the real Zimbabwe today, and none more so than Swirler's Giants who now sit proudly in last place on -54 with only one player in positive points. On the other hand, the Spud Socety have stayed comfortably in top spot - indeed the only shuffling of places happened way down the pecking order at 6th and 7th. Sean Williams had a good game as far as fantasy points go, overhauling his score of -15 in style to be 16 points back in the black.

Still no-one can match Tatenda Taibu, and a straight swap between him and Taylor is looking like the best option now for those without him.

WHO PICKED WHO?
THE LEAGUE TABLE
PLAYER BY PLAYER BREAKDOWN​

 

[Gaurav_7]

Swirler's Giants ftw!

Not always you see Watson at 3. Khawaja was getting some batting practice, I suppose.

 

[Fenil]

Khawaja was getting some batting practice, I suppose.

And he did get a lot of it, indeed.