Masakadza, Taylor half centuries set up comfortable win

Half-centuries by Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor helped hosts Zimbabwe beat Papua New Guinea (PNG) by five wickets at the Bulawayo Athletic Club in an ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier warmup tie.

Hamilton Masakadza scored 54 from 71 balls with four fours and two sixes, and Brendan Taylor struck three fours and two sixes before being retired out for 52 as the host nation achieved the 195-run target with more than nine overs to spare.

Opener Solomon Mire and captain Graeme Cremer also had good outings with the bat, scoring 36 and 22 not out.

Earlier in the day, PNG failed to finish on a high after a promising start when they were dismissed for 195 in 49.4 overs. They were 135 for four in the 38^th over but managed only 60 runs in the next 12.2 overs for the loss of six wickets.

Opener Vani Morea was the top scorer with 58 (75b, 3×4, 2×6), while captain Assadollah Vala contributed 30 (59b, 1×4). For Zimbabwe, wickets were evenly shared between Sikandar Raza (two for 20), Tendai Chisoro (two for 22) and Blessing Muzarabani (two for 22).

Zimbabwe beat PNG by five wickets, Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo

PNG 195 all out, 49.4 overs (Vani Morea 58, Assadollah Vala 30, Jason Kila 19; Sikandar Raza 2-20, Tendai Chisoro 2-22, Blessing Muzarabani 2-22)
Zimbabwe 196-5, 40.3 overs (Hamilton Masakadza 54, Brendan Taylor 52 retired out, Solomon Mire 36)

For the full schedule of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament click here

Other results:

Ireland beat Scotland by two wickets, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo

Scotland 239 all out, 49.3 overs (Michael Leask 91, George Munsey 77, Calum MacLeod 29; Boyd Rankin 5-38, Tim Murtagh 3-42, Barry McCarthy 2-54)
Ireland 248-8, 50 overs (Andrew McBrine 79, George Dockrell 47 not out, Niall O’Brien 35; Gary Wilson 21; Chris Sole 2-53, Stuart Whittingham 2-26, Ali Evans 2-64)

Netherlands v Afghanistan, Old Hararians – match abandoned due to rain (target revised to 202 in 45 overs)

Afghanistan 216-9, 49.5 overs (Rashid Khan 63, Sharafuddin Ashraf 42, Mohammad Nabi 32, Dawlat Zadran 18; Shane Snater 4-46, Roelof van der Merwe 2-23)
The Netherlands 86-1, 17.3 overs (Wesley Barresi 38, Maxwell O’Dowd 38 not out)

The Windies beat the UAE by 32 runs, Harare Sports Club, Harare

Windies 115 all out, 33.4 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 20, Chris Gayle 16, Marlon Samuels 15, Evin Lewis 10; Imran Haider 4-16; Rohan Mustafa 2-10, Mohammad Naveed 2-27, Ahmed Raza 2-14)
UAE 83 all out, 29 overs (Nikita Miller 5-20, Kemar Roach 3-15, Ashley Nurse 2-21)

Hong Kong v Nepal, Kwekwe Sports Club – match abandoned without a ball being bowled due to a wet outfield