By Suneer Chowdhary
The honeymoon did not pan out as the Zimbabwean team would have wanted it to. After earning most of the accolades from the experts for bowling the way that they had and stalling the Aussie score in the first innings to what seemed a manageable one, the Zimbabwean batting capitulated under some sustained pace bowling from Shaun Tait, Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson.
Published: Feb 21, 2011, 10:01 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 21, 2011, 10:01 PM (IST)
Australian bowlers put up an incisive performance to put it across Zimbabwe in their World Cup Group A match at Ahmedabad
By Suneer Chowdhary
Ahmedabad: February 21, 2001
The honeymoon did not pan out as the Zimbabwean team would have wanted it to. After earning most of the accolades from the experts for bowling the way that they had and stalling the Aussie score in the first innings to what seemed a manageable one, the Zimbabwean batting capitulated under some sustained pace bowling from Shaun Tait, Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson. The defending champions ran home winners by 91 runs.
A total of 262 was always going to be a difficult chase, but Zimbabwe began well with Charles Coventry signalling his intentions by cutting Brett Lee for a six over point in a manner that would have made Sanath Jayasuriya proud. Unfortunately, he added only two more to his total and Zimbabwe was 22 for 1.
The dismissal slowed down the run-rate and even as the Tatenda Taibu joined Brendan Taylor in a bid to get a move on. At 39 for one after ten, the start had been decent; what they now needed was a partnership to carry them off for another 10 overs to be able to send some shivers down the opposition camp.
As it turned out, Johnson sent Taibu back as he guided a delivery to the slips while Tait’s second spell accounted for Taylor (16). With the fizz gone out of the Zimbabwean chase, Sean Ervine lasted all of six deliveries for his duck and despite the fifth-wicket stand, doubling the score to 88, the Zimbabweans were never in hunt.
The dismissal of the captain Elton Chigumbura brought Australia another couple of them for almost no addition to the score. Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer (37) warded off the inevitable for 12 overs but by this time, it was all of academic interest. In the end, Australia bowled Zimbabwe out for 171 with Johnson picking up a few cheap wickets in the end to finish with figures of 4 for 19 in nearly 10 overs.
Not that it always looked like Zimbabwe was the same kettle of fish as Associates from the previous day. For one, the margin of defeat wasn’t as bad. And then, there was a beautiful execution of their plan to open and use spin as their main weapon, as evident from the restricting of a powerful batting unit like Australia to a reasonably decent 62 for 6 in their 50 overs.
In fact, at one stage at 61 for one in the 19th over, it had seemed that Australia were up against a South African bowling unit than the Zimbabwean – such was their impact. Then, Michael Clarke had followed up Shane Watson’s innings of 79 with a half century of his own to allow the other batsmen to go after the bowling towards the end.
As many as 90 runs came off the last 10 overs when they batted and in the end, 262 seemed to be a reasonably decent score with a bowling attack as strong as Australia’s.
Brief Scores: Australia 262 for 6 in 50 overs (Shane Watson 79, Michael Clarke 58*; Christopher Mpfofu 2 for 58, Graeme Cremer 1 for 43) bt Zimbabwe 171 all out in 46.2 overs (Graeme Cremer 37, Sean Williams 28; Mitchell Johnson 4 for 19, Jason Krejza 2 for 28, Shaun Tait 2 for 34) by 91 runs.
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com)
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