CWC Qualifier: Sole reason for Zimbabwe's misery, Scot march continues

Chris Sole took three wickets in the powerplay and Zimbabwe never recovered from it as they failed to chase down 235 and crashed out of the World Cup race once again

Zimbabwe have no one else but themselves to blame as they fell short yet again of making it to the Men’s ODI World Cup. The Chevrons who topped their group in the first round, went down to Scotland in their final super-six game having defeated Oman and lost to Sri Lanka early on in this round. 

Their big defeat against Sri Lanka (by nine wickets) meant that even after losing by only 31 runs against Scotland in a thrilling encounter, the men in red and yellow have fallen behind the net run rate and cannot qualify even if the Netherlands beat Scotland in the final game and three teams- Zimbabwe, Scotland and the Dutch end up on six points each. After this win, Scotland are the one leading the race to the top. 

Chris Sole the destroyer in chief

Chris Sole was not just quick, he was delivering bazookas at more than 150 kmph regularly. It was altogether a very new experience for the Zimbabwe batters and as a result, Joylord Gumbie, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams couldn’t cope with it. These three wickets alongside Innocent Kaia fell inside the powerplay. At 37/4, Zimbabwe were staring down defeat in their chase of 235. 

Raza gave his wicket away

Sikandar Raza, joined by Rayan Burl at the crease after the fall of Kaia, remained the lone hope for the Zimbabweans. The man of all seasons had done it in the past and the team expected him to do it again. He did for a brief moment as well, putting together 54 in 61 balls with Burl. But in his attempt to take on Chris Greaves, he holed out in the deep at one of the most important junctures in the game, with Zimbabwe still not having crossed the 100-run mark. 

Burl let an opportunity of a lifetime go

After Raza’s departure, people thought it was the end of the Zimbabwean chase. However, Burl made sure that the flame of hope, although flickering in the Bulawayo air, remained burning. He added  73 off just 71 balls with Wesley Madhevere and the Zimbabwean chase was in cruise control mode. But then a ripper of a delivery from Mark Watt had Madhevere out for 40 and it was back to struggle for the hosts. They now needed 71 and had only Burl as an established batter. 

It was an opportunity for the 29-year-old left-hander to become the hero who would have been named in the folklores, but alas it was not to be as Burl too was out as the ninth wicket after Wellington Masakadza and Richard Ngarava had departed. With too much to do, the last pair of Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarabani could not score much and the entire Zimbabwe team were all-out for 203, losing the match by 31 runs.

Watt, Leask add vital runs after Willaims’ lead attack from Zimbabwe

Earlier in the day, after Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to bowl first, they controlled most of the Scottish innings, pushing them to 170/7 in 43.1 overs. But it was the last seven overs where the Zimbabwean bowlers faltered and the Scots in Watt and Michael Leask capitalised, adding 46 for the eighth wicket. Watt went on to add an unbeaten 18 for the ninth wicket too alongside Safiyaan Sharif. As a result of Zimbabwe not putting pressure on the Scots in the last overs, what could have been 200-odd, became 234 and looked like a target that could be defended.