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ODI Series vs. Sri Lanka
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First ODI:
Sri Lanka 4/237 (Whittall 2/54, Engelbrecht 1/37)
Zimbabwe 177ao (Masakadza 38, A Flower 35)
---Sri Lanka win by 60 runs
"Continues our run of bad batting performances, we really need someone to stand up and give us some big scores. Neil Johnson is on the brink of getting into the team, despite him being 32 going against our youth policy. Another poor batting performance would see him in. Engelbrecht once again good, 1/37 a tidy bowling effort."
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Second ODI:
Zimbabwe 6/183 (Goodwin 83*, Vermeulen 54)
Sri Lanka 1/184 from 49.2 overs (Whittall 1/32)
---Sri Lanka win by 9 wickets
"After being 3/15, Vermeulen and Goodwin did quite well to get our score back up to a competitive level, but it's a shame that they weren't able to play a bit more aggressively towards the end. Whittall's 25 from 24 and 1/32 was a good effort. Sri Lanka were never in any real danger, and paced their innings so well that it was insulting. The team is at an important stage now, and it will be interesting to see who stands up when we need to win the rest of these games."
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Third ODI:
Sri Lanka 6/175 (Brent 3/38, Streak 2/22)
Zimbabwe 3/176 from 47.1 overs (G Flower 47, A Flower 42*)
---Zimbabwe win by 7 wickets
"Nice to start winning again, great stuff from the bowlers, particularly Heath Streak, who has returned from a form slump to get figures of 2/22 from 10 overs. The chasing was ridiculously slow up to the 35th over, including one dead period where 9 consecutive maidens were faced out. Luckily we snapped out of that slow period and started hitting a few big overs, including one 16-run over off Chaminda Vaas.
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Fourth ODI:
Zimbabwe 9/306 (A Flower 96, D Marillier 68)
Sri Lanka 231ao (Englebrecht 3/62, Mbangwa 3/60)
---Zimbabwe win by 75 runs
"Great batting effort, nice change from the recent performances that our batsmen have put in. Main reasons for this big score is Marillier's 68 from 47 balls which included 7 fours and a six before being run out, and Andy Flower's 96 off 76 balls which included 14 fours. The batsmen were all sensible, seeing themselves in for 5-10 overs before lashing out in the way they did. The bowlers were under siege for most of the match, as you would expect considering the opposition were chasing 306. Englebrecht and Mbangwa were vital with the wickets they took, without them Sri Lanka had a real shot. The next match will be our real test, the deciding match for the series. We are confident as we have the momentum."
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Fifth ODI:
Sri Lanka 4/253 (Whitall 2/72, Mbangwa 1/37)
Zimbabwe 249ao (G Flower 67, A Flower 51)
---Sri Lanka win by 4 runs
"Devastating loss for the team, they played well enough and deserved to win. Andy Flower, Mark Vermeulen and Douglas Marillier all played well and aggressively which put us in the box seat, needing 10 off the last two overs with four wickets in hand. To most, this would be an easy win. However, the 49th over went like this: W W W 2 1 1. The Mapa Bandaratillek hattrick was not what we wanted at the time. Thilan Samaraweera came on to bowl the last over, 6 runs needed, 1 wicket in hand. 2 W. All over."
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"Very pleased this series the way we came back from 2-0 down to level the series, but that last game was there to be won and we shouldn't have wasted the opportunity the way we did."
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TOUR of INDIA
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Tour Match 1 vs Karnataka
Zimbabwe First Innings 417ao (Masakadza 95, Vermeulen 83)
Karnataka First Innings 219ao (Engelbrecht 6/63, Brent 2/56)
Karnatka Second Innings - following on 257ao (Engelbrecht 4/79, Mbangwa 3/43)
Zimbabwe Second Innings 1/60 (Masakadza 35*, G Flower 22)
---Zimbabwe win by 9 wickets
"Good to see a few young players getting into form, Masakaza (95 and 35*), Engelbrecht (6/63 and 4/79), and Vermeulen (83) proving that they are ready for the new season."
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Tour Match 2 vs. Mumbai
Zimbabwe First Innings 275ao (Brummer 94, Duvall 57)
Mumbai First Innings 345ao (Vermeulen 4/101, Mbangwa 3/35)
Zimbabwe Second Innings 403ao (Marillier 96, Brummer 84)
Mumbai Second Innings 195ao (Streak 4/38, Duvall 3/23)
--- Zimbabwe win by 138 runs
"We put in a new-look Zimbabwean team just to see how they would perform, and they did quite well. Obviously stand-in captain Mark Vermeulen had decided before the match that he would bowl himself, as there were no recognised spin bowlers in the team, on a very sharply turning wicket. 21-year-old Alan Brummer did nothing to hurt his chances of getting a spot in the team, with a 94 and 84 in his first match for Zimbabwe. Duvall also showed a bit of promise, and Marillier looks ready to take over the reigns as wicketkeeper as soon as Andy Flower calls it quits."
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First ODI vs. India
Zimbabwe 294ao (Vermeulen 70, Friend 49)
India 296/4 (Mbangwa 2/58, Friend 2/63)
---India win by 6 wickets
"Due to a colossal mistake involving not changing the team from the second-string team that played against Mumbai in a tour match recently, the team was definitely not at its best. Despite this, the team batted very well, Mark Vermeulen and Travis Friend the standouts that almost pushed the team's score to 300+. Unfortunately, the last tour match was a four-dayer, and we only had four recognised bowlers. India achieved the score in 47.3 overs, although Mbangwa and Friend managed to get wickets, Friend claiming the prized scalp of Sachin Tendulkar (76).
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Second ODI vs. India
India 3/256 (Mbangwa 1/40, Engelbrecht 1/49)
Zimbabwe 9/260 (Masakadza 56, Brummer 48)
---Zimbabwe won by 1 wicket
"Nail-biting win, dealt with beautifully by Engelbrecht, who hit a four off the last ball to win. Bowling is getting worse, but young batsmen Masakadza and Brummer reminded us of what is to come."
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Third ODI vs. India
India 7/268 (Engelbrecht 2/51, Streak 2/44)
Zimbabwe 196ao (G Flower 52, Brummer 45)
---India won by 72 runs
"Shame to see our batsmen failed after so much improvement in that area, but the bowlers weren't particularly good either. Bad effort by the players."
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"The ODI series was a large backward step for Zimbabwe, the only game that they won being the second game, which was a lucky win. Hopefully there will be an improvement in the test series."
First Test vs. India
India First Innings 5/603 dec. (Engelbrecht 3/185, Mbangwa 1/141)
Zimbabwe First Innings 233ao (Campbell 58, Flower 36)
Zimbabwe Second Innings Following On 115ao (Masakadza 30, Vermeulen 27*)
---India win by an innings and 255 runs
"Hopeless with batting and bowling. Two 200+ run partnerships were really costly, and our two innings were both a lot worse than what we are capable of. No excuse for that performance
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Second Test vs. India
Zimbabwe First Innings 343ao (Brummer 81, Masakadza 56)
India First Innings 7/511 (Lamb 4/137, Engelbrecht 1/147)
Zimbabwe Second Innings 205ao (G Flower 64, Lamb 40)
India Second Innings 2/40 (Mbangwa 2/23)
---India win by 8 wickets
"Improved, but was still not up to the standard that we set last season. Lamb was solid on debut, and showed us a bit of talent with the bat that was unexpected. Brummer contributed to the first innings, but nobody can honestly say they played well this game."
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Third Test vs. India
India First Innings 574ao (Engelbrecht 4/152, Marillier 2/24)
Zimbabwe First Innings 308ao (Campbell 112, Streak 59*)
Zimbabwe Second Innings 233ao (Masakadza 121, A Flower 37)
--- India won by an innings and 33 runs
"Very disappointing effort again. Batsmen didn't do too badly, with Campbell and Masakadza making centuries. Bowlers really need to improve to get teams out for low totals as they did in Sri Lanka last year."
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"What can I say about this series. India won it 3-0, twice by an innings, and we couldn't even make 350 for the whole series. Bowlers suck."
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