Shingirai Masakadza held his nerve in the final over to help Zimbabwe earn a two-run victory over West Indies in the first One-day International (ODI) on Thursday.
Masakada, on his ODI debut, collected three wickets — two in the final over — as Zimbabwe successfully defended their score of 255 on a typically slow Guyana National Stadium pitch.
The victory gave Zimbabwe a 1-0 lead in the five-match series with the second match set for the same venue today.
Opening batsman Vusimuzi Sibanda had struck five fours and a six in his 95 from 162 balls in Zimbabwe’s 254 for five from their quota of 50 overs after they decided to bat.
But the match came down to the final over, and Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya gambled with Masakadza.
The 23-year-old fast-medium bowler conceded a six, a four, and a single to Nikita Miller off the first three balls of the final over before he bowled Dwayne Smith for four, and had Sulieman Benn caught at deep mid-wicket off successive balls, as West Indies narrowly failed to get the 15 runs they needed to win from the final over.
Zimbabwe’s spinners again choked the West Indies’ top-order batting, despite Shivnarine Chanderpaul hitting a run-a-ball 70, home team captain Chris Gayle making 57 from 66 balls, and fellow opener Adrian Barath 50 from 96 balls on debut.
Zimbabwe’s four frontline spinners — Utseya, Ray Price, Graeme Cremer, and Greg Lamb — delivered 40 overs at four runs apiece, and removed Gayle and Kieron Pollard, the West Indies two most dangerous hitters.
Gayle shared 99 for the first wicket with Barath before he fell leg-before to Lamb in the 23rd over.
From this point, Zimbabwe continued to tighten the noose, and the run outs of Andre Fletcher and Narsingh Deonarine did not help the cause of the home team.
Earlier, Sibanda shared 67 for the first wicket with Hamilton Masakadza, then 100 for the second wicket with Tatenda Taibu, anchoring Zimbabwe’s innings before Kemar Roach spectacularly bowled him — smashing his bat in the process — in the penultimate over
Masakadza hit six boundaries in his 41 from 45 balls, and Taibu struck five fours in 56 from 54 balls.
Masakadza was lbw to Nikita Miller and Taibu was lbw to Kieron Pollard playing across the line.
When Brendan Taylor was run out for one in the 38th over, Zimbabwe were 168 for three.
Elton Chigumbura joined Sibanda and put on 47 for the fourth wicket before he was caught at long-on for 27 in the 46th over, as Zimbabwe chased quick runs in the closing stages.
Taiwan’s men’s A team last night defeated their counterpart B team 82-77 in their first showdown in the William Jones Cup at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium. With four wins under their belt, Taiwan’s A squad — also known as the blue team, consisting of the national team’s main roster — lead the tournament, while Malaysia and the Philippines Strong Group-Pilipinas, who were not scheduled to play last night, are both undefeated with three wins each. Taiwanese-American teenager Robert Hinton, playing in his first William Jones Cup, led the scoring early in the first quarter, putting up nine points for the A
A chance encounter during a drunken night out was the unlikely catalyst for breaker Sunny Choi’s journey to the Paris Olympic Games. The 35-year-old American is to showcase her skills before a global audience in Paris when breaking makes its debut on the Olympic stage. Choi is the beneficiary of efforts to attract younger fans to the Olympics, a move that led to breaking’s inclusion for the first time. However, as Choi says, the Olympics was the last thing on her mind when she took up the sport. A freshman student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Choi stumbled into breaking
Teenage gymnast Shoko Miyata has been pulled from Japan’s team for the Paris Olympics after being caught smoking and drinking, officials said yesterday. The 19-year-old, a world bronze medalist and captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team for the Games, was sent home from their training camp in Monaco and admitted she had violated the squad’s code of conduct. “With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA) secretary-general Kenji Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo. Nishimura said the association had been told that Miyata was seen smoking in a
Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones, whose 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history, has died at the age of 40. The Houston Texans, Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career, announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007 to 2015 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super