CRICKET: Zimbabwe Fall Short Of Winnable Chase

Zimbabwe’s cricket team will be kicking itself after falling short of what they will have thought of as a winnable total of 274 in the third ODI against New Zealand at Harare Sports Club to lose by 38 runs.

The Chevrons had done well to restrict the Black Caps and were generally disciplined in the dark chasm that is death bowling with spinners Greame Cremer (3-44) and John Nyumbu (2-52) the pick of the bowlers.

After winning the toss and putting New Zealand in, Zimbabwe struggled to break partnerships as batsmen were allowed to settle in. Captain Kane Williamson held their innings well with a 90 before falling to John Nyumbu.

Zimbabwe started well as Chamu Chibhabha and Hamilton Masakadza put together a 97 opening partnership but after that it went a bit pear-shaped. Only a 63 from Sean Williams later on kept things interesting but wickets fell too regularly.

After chasing down a 303 in the first match the Chevrons would have been confident but wickets fell to regularly.

What will be worrying is the continued poor form of captain Elton Chigumbura. He will have to start making runs soon and given that he no longer bowls it means that pressure will be doubly on him to contribute more meaningfully.

There are signs of improvement in performance across the board which needs to be more consistent and the sort. Players tend to get in and out of matches way too often.

New Zealand claim the series 2-1 and all that is left of this tour is a T20 match on Sunday.