Dubai: The third day of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 saw wins for Zimbabwe and Nepal.
Zimbabwe hunted down a target of 316 in merely 40.5 overs, while Nepal changed gears towards the end of their chase to finish their encounter against USA with 42 balls to spare.
Zimbabwe registered their third-fastest successful run-chase in ODIs with a crucial win over Netherlands.
Impeccable onslaughts from Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza ensured Zimbabwe’s second consecutive win in the tournament. This was their third highest successful chase in ODIs, with Raza reaching the fastest-ever ODI century for Zimbabwe when he hit the winning runs with a six. With this victory, the Chevrons have further boosted their claim for a place in the Super Six.
In pursuit of 316, Zimbabwe’s response was led by their skipper, Craig Ervine. He hit nine fours during a quality knock of 50, and added 81 runs for the first wicket. Ervine, however, fell in the 14th over after he miscued a Vikramjit Singh delivery towards mid-wicket where Clayton Floyd took a diving catch.
Arriving at number three, Sean Williams continued in the same free-flowing form which had brought him a century in the last game against Nepal. Along with Joylord Gumbie, who survived a number of close calls, he added 62 from 44 balls. The stand finally fell when Gumbie (40) ran out of luck and was bowled off a beauty from Shariz Ahmad.
Soon after Shariz also accounted for Wessly Madhevere for 10. But this didn’t deter Williams from going for his runs. He brought up his 50 off merely 28 balls in the 23rd over.
Raza’s arrival at the wicket meant that Zimbabwe’s run-rate picked up even further. From the 26th over till drinks break, Zimbabwe went at over nine runs an over, bringing the required run rate to less than 4.5. The duo were particularly brutal in Saqib Zulfiqar’s first over, taking 17 runs off the leg-spinner.
Williams fell agonizingly short of his second consecutive hundred, when he gave away his wicket in the 35th over to Bas de Leede, but Zimbabwe were already way ahead in the game at this stage.
Raza, complimented his four-for with a blistering century which came off merely 54 balls. His blitz included a hat-trick of sixes against young spinner, Shariz. This was the fastest ODI hundred by a Zimbabwe batter.
Earlier in the day, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bowl. In terms of head-to-head record, the two teams stand evenly matched, having won and lost three games each.
Veteran all-rounder Sean Williams has been a key for Zimbabwe for more than a decade and notched 150 ODIs at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023
The Dutch welcomed back de Leede. The player, who came after fulfilling county duties for Durham, was a late arrival into the setup. Zimbabwe stuck to the XI which won them the opening encounter against Nepal.
Netherlands openers took advantage of a good batting strip in the opening hour. Opener Max O’Dowd, who had an average of 71 against Zimbabwe before this game, showed positive intent and was among runs from the very start. His partner, Vikramjit Singh, took his time to settle but eventually opened his arms. Together the duo hit nine boundaries in their first 10 overs to get Netherlands to 57 without loss. They upped the ante after that and ensured that the Dutch crossed 100 without loss by the 17th over.
While the frontline bowlers leaked runs, all-rounders Ryan Burl and Sikandar Raza helped slow down the scoring rate with their disciplined bowling. And it was Raza, who brought the first breakthrough in the 21st over when he castled O’Dowd for 59. In his very next over, Raza had Wesley Barresi bowled after the batter missed a switch hit and edged the ball onto his stumps.
The Dutch skipper Scott Edwards rejuvenated the Netherlands innings with a purposeful knock. With Vikramjit, he added 96 from merely 97 balls. In this stand, his contribution was 49 off 48, and by the 38th over, Netherlands were placed at 221/2 and looked all set to cross the 300-run mark with ease.
However, Raza (4/55) returned to torment the Dutch. He got rid of the set Vikramjit for 88 in the 39th over and then uprooted de Leede’s middle stump with a beauty in the 41st over. When Richard Ngrava had Teja Nidamanuru caught for 1 to leave the Netherlands reeling at 238/5, it looked like the European side would repeat the mistakes of Nepal to miss out on a total of 300.
But an enterprising sixth wicket stand of 59 between Edwards (83) and Saqib Zulfiqar helped Netherlands cross that mark with ease.
Nepal beat USA by six wickets to seal first win in CWC23 Qualifier.
While USA had their moments in the game, courtesy a special knock from Shayan Jahangir, Nepal proved to be the overall better side on the day.
USA were rattled early in their innings by some exceptional Nepal bowling, but managed to post 207 on the back of a brilliant hundred from Shayan Jahangir. During his stay at the crease, Jahangir added 100 out of 142 runs scored by USA batters.
Chasing a modest total of 208, the Nepal innings was rocked early on when opener Aasif Sheikh fell lbw to Saurabh Netravalkar at 12. But Nepal batters took advantage of some ordinary fielding from USA to get their innings going. Kushal Bhurtel and Bhim Sharki added 49 runs for the second wicket, before Bhurtel (39) fell to Nosthush Kenjige.
Skipper Rohit Paudel then joined Sharki in steadying the Nepal innings. Though the scoring rate dropped, the duo ensured that Nepal didn’t lose another wicket till the mid-inning mark.
Paudel’s fall to Nisarg Patel in the 27th over brought the youngster Kushal Malla to the crease. He wasn’t able to get going but brought some impetus with his run-a-ball 13, which included a six.
With Dipendra Airee’s arrival, Nepal put the foot on the pedal and took the game further away from USA. Together they added 74 runs for the fifth wicket. Sharki finished at 77*, while Airee made 39* in a successful chase.
Earlier, Nepal won the toss and elected to take the field at the Takashinga Sports Club. After defeats for both teams first-up, this encounter is vital for their hopes of a Super Six spot.
Monty Desai hails Nepal’s young group in the midst of CWC23 Qualifier fire
Nepal edge the historic match-up record 3-2 in ODI cricket having played USA six times in League 2 cricket, with the other match a tie in Texas in June 2022.
Both sides were forced to make changes. USA skipper Monank Patel handed the captaincy to batter Aaron Jones after falling ill. On the Nepal side, Sompal Kami is expected to miss a week with injury and was replaced by Lalit Rajbanshi.
Nepal seamer Karan KC ensured that he made up for Kami’s absence with an exceptional new-ball spell. In his very first over, he packed off Steven Taylor (4) and Saiteja Mukkamalla (0) off consecutive deliveries. Karan didn’t let up his intensity after these breakthroughs and pushed the USA batting further into the doldrums.
In the eighth over, he had the stand-in USA captain Aaron Jones caught at gully and then in the 10th over, he had Nosthush Kenjige caught at first slip. By the 10th over mark, USA had four batters back in the hut for merely 19 runs. Gajanand Singh, the centurion from USA’s opening encounter against West Indies, joined hands with Sushant Modani to stabilise the innings. Together the duo added 47 runs from 73 balls.
But just when Gajanand was priming for another rescue act, the southpaw was caught brilliantly at first slip by Aarif Sheikh. At 25 overs, USA were 80/5.
Modani (42) soon followed Gajanand back into the pavilion after missing out on a sweep against Rajbanshi in the 27th over. Having taken six wickets under the score 100, Nepal would’ve hoped to clean up the remaining batters as soon as possible.
However, Shayan Jahangir came to the USA’s rescue with an exemplary knock of 100* from 79 balls. He hit 10 fours and three sixes during his innings.
He also forged important lower-order stands with Nisarg Patel (34 for the seventh wicket), Jessy Singh (42 for the eighth wicket) and Netravalkar (37 for the ninth wicket).
Courtesy:ICC