HARARE: Sikandar Raza put on a brilliant all-round show and propelled Zimbabwe to a stunning 35-run victory over West Indies in the 13th match of the Cricket World Cup (CWC) Qualifier on Saturday.
In a hill-hill Group A clash, hosts Zimbabwe handed a 35-run thrashing to former champions West Indies and solidify their grasp on the top spot in the standings.
Dynamic all-rounder Sikandar Raza was the star of the show as he backed his sensational 68-run knock with two wickets and earned the Player of the Match award for his brilliance.
Put into bat first, Zimbabwe accumulated a par 268-run total before bundling out in the final over.
The home side had a promising start to their innings as openers Joylord Gumbie and Craig Ervine raised 63 runs for the first wicket until the former perished in the 16th over.
Gumbie could score 26 off 50 deliveries with the help of two boundaries and a six.
His dismissal triggered a brief collapse and the hosts, consequently, slipped to 112/4 in the 25th over with Ervine and Sean Williams also walking back.
Ervine remained the notable run-getter for Zimbabwe with a 58-ball 47 which featured seven boundaries while Williams could score 23 off 26.
Following the slump, Sikandar Raza once again stood up for his team in CWC Qualifier and stitched a crucial 87-run partnership with Ryan Burl and both scored half-centuries.
The duo counter-attacked the West Indian bowlers and scored at a rapid pace until Akeal Hosein trapped Burl in his legs soon after the latter raised his bat for a well-crafted half-century.
Ryan Burl scored 50 off 57 deliveries, laced with five boundaries and a six.
Sikandar Raza then put on a brief partnership with Clive Madane (5) before finally perishing in the 46th over and Zimbabwe, as a result, had their batting tail exposed.
Raza top-scored for Zimbabwe with a brisk 58-ball 68 which included six boundaries and two sixes.
The West Indian bowlers then soon wrapped up Zimbabwe’s innings by bundling them out on the penultimate delivery of the innings with 268 runs on the scoreboard.
Keemo Paul led the bowling charge for West Indies with three wickets but was expensive, followed by Alzarri Joseph and Akeal Hosein who took two each.
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Set to chase 269, West Indies could only raise 233 before being bowled in the 45th over despite Kyle Mayers’s half-century.
West Indies too, had a decent start to their innings as their openers raised a quick 43-run opening partnership which lasted with Brandon King’s (20 off 12) departure in the seventh over.
Following his dismissal, the Caribbean side dealt with another blow as Johnson Charles fell three overs later, scoring one off five.
With their side two down for 46 in the 10th over, Kyle Mayers received was joined by skipper Shai Hope at the crease.
The pair briefly stopped the flow of wickets and took West Indies past the 100-run mark but Wellington Masakadza drew a massive breakthrough in the 21st over as he got rid of Mayers.
Mayers remained the top-scorer for West Indies in the run chase with 56 from 72 balls with the help of eight boundaries and a six.
West Indies then began to lose wickets at regular intervals and despite some notable contributions in the middle by skipper Shai Hope (34) and Nicholas Pooran (30), they slipped to 180/6 in the 33rd over.
Roston Chase, the only batter who hung in there for the West Indies, fell in the 43rd over after a gutsy 44-run knock and Zimbabwe moved just one wicket away from claiming a morale-boosting victory over the West Indies.
Tendai Chatara soon picked up the last wicket in his next over by dismissing Alzarri Joseph and drove Zimbabwe to their third consecutive victory in the CWC Qualifier.
