Email Us Forum Mail Article Print Article

Zimbabwe comes close yet again

Tuesday, January 27 2004

VB Series - Match 9
Australia vs. Zimbabwe
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (D/N)
26 January, 2004.

Zimbabwean skipper Heath Streak's tough luck continued, as once again his counter-part Ricky Ponting won the toss, and without any hesitation decided to bat first, under easy conditions and a batting beauty to play on. For Australia, Adam Gilchrist was rested and replaced behind the stumps by Brad Haddin, while Matthew Hayden and Brad Hogg returned to the side in place of Andrew Bichel and Ian Harvey. Zimababweans made only one change to their side which had a close encounter the previous match against India, that of Stuart Matsikenyeri replacing the out-of-form Vusi Sibanda.

Damien Martyn was promoted to open the batting with Hayden, so that he would be able to spend time on the crease, get his eye in, and return to his usual classy form. The wicket at the start of the innings, behaved somewhat differently from what was predicted earlier, as the ball hardly came on to the bat. For the first 5 or so overs, both the batsman looked very ordinary, mis-timing or edging a lot of the deliveries. Hayden survived a scare in the 2nd over of the innings, when a mis-hit pull off the bowling of Andy Blignaut, swirled and fell just out of the reach of Grant Flower.

Martyn's form slump continued, as he looked out of sorts, the way he has looked since the Test Series. The promotion to the top of the order didn't pay off, when in the 5th over of the innings, he mis-hit a cut straight to gully where Dion Ebrahim pulled off a juggling catch, off the bowling of Streak. At the other end, Hayden too looked uncomfortable, with powerful cuts ricocheting into the pitch, and aerial shots falling close to the fielders. Ponting, who joined Hayden after Martyn's demise, looked the best of the three, playing with confidence and going through with his shots. He brought up the 50-run partnership with Hayden after scoring 16 runs off a Sean Ervine over, which included 3 boundaries. Hayden too tried to be aggressive, hitting a couple of lusty blows.

Hayden, finally fell to Blignaut, who was brought into bowl a second spell within the first 15 overs, largely due to Ervine's disastrous outing with the ball. Hayden smacked the ball straight to Ebrahim at point, and was gone for 20, with the Australian score at 2-84. This brought out Michael Bevan, who too was given a promotion up the order to number 4, so that he could get a decent bat in. Ponting soon got to his 50 off only 47 balls, with his 11th four. Australia were 2-98 after 15 overs, and looked very much in the driver's seat.

However, with the total on 128, Ponting was run-out for 63, resultant of a brilliant diving stop at mid-wicket by Andy Blignaut. The Zimbabweans could have got a double break through, but Douglas Hondo dropped Bevan when he was on 14. Bevan made full use of the missed chance, going on to add 77 runs with Michael Clarke. Bevan got to his 45th half-century, in the 35th over. Clarke looked very solid in the middle, the way he has looked the entire season, scoring 36 which included as many as 32 singles. However, Zimbabwe got his prized wicket when Bevan cut a ball straight to Flower, and called for a run which looked non-existent, and left Clarke miles out of his ground. The score at this point was 4-205 in the 40th over.

Australia could add only 108 runs in the 25 overs from the 16th to the 40th over, thanks largely due to very tight bowling by Raymond Price and Grant Flower. Though neither of them picked up a wicket, the batsman struggled to get runs off them, and thus were both instrumental in causing the two important run-outs of Ponting and Clarke.

Bevan departed in the 43rd over, when he lofted a ball from Douglas Hondo straight to Sean Ervine at long off, going for a well made 74. Looking for quick runs, both Symonds and Haddin fell to Heath Streak in the final overs. Australia finished the innings at 7-279, clearly a few runs short of what they would have hoped for at one stage. They managed just 73 runs of the last 10 overs, despite having 6 wickets in hand. Streak, as always, was the pick of the Zimbabwean bowlers, picking up 3 sclaps.

Zimbabwe once again made a poor start, despite a change in the batting line-up, with young wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu asked to open with Flower. The pace of Brad Williams and Brett Lee accounted for the wickets of Taibu and Travis Friend within the first 15 overs, with both of them being bowled off respective bowlers. Williams also picked up the wicket of last match's warrior Stuart Carlisle, who was caught by Harvey (sub) for 15.

While wickets fell at the other end regularly, Flower looked calm and composed, rotating the strike consistently. Through some cheeky nudges and pushes, he kept the scoreboard ticking. At the fall of the wicket of Carlisle, he was joined by Ervine, who would have hoped to follow up his innings of 100 in the previous match, with a similar effort.

Ervine and Flower added 69 for the 4th wicket, putting the tourists at a reachable distance. Ervine reached 33, before he fell to spinner Hogg. Flower followed soon, caught behind off Jason Gillespie for 94, missing out on a 100. Flower's was a valiant effort, considering that he hit only 7 fours during the entire innings span. He, however, couldn't stay till the end, which would definitely have improved Zimbabwe's chances of causing an upset.

Ebrahim and Matsikenyeri followed too, and the final blow came when Streak fell caught-and-bowled to Symonds for 28. Streak had put on a 59-run partnership with Blignaut, bringing the Zimbabweans close to the target but not quite there. Blignaut scored his 31 runs off just 22 balls, and along with Price tried to take Zimbabwe home, but in the end the target was just out of the reach.

Australian bowlers did a pretty good job, keeping their cool, and picking up wickets at regular intervals. Flower was named the Man of the Match for his innings of 94. It's the third time Zimbabwe have come close to an eluding victory in the series, but haven't quite pulled it off even once. It will be interesting to see how they perform in the final round of the series, with each team having already played 3 matches against each opposition. Australia and India are already assured for the Finals.

Brief Scorecard:

Australia: 7-279 in 50 overs.

Ricky Ponting 63(71)
Michael Bevan 75(91)

Heath Streak 3-45(10)
Douglas Hondo 1-45(6)

Zimbabwe: 8-266 in 50 overs.

Grant Flower 94(106)
Andy Blignaut 31(22)

Brad Williams 2-38(8)
Andrew Symonds 2-47(7)

Result: Australia won by 13 runs.

Man of the Match: Grant Flower (Zim)

Points: Australia 5, Zimbabwe 1

Posted by Sudeep