13th Odi: West Indies V/s Zimbabwe - 19th March 2007 Options

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The 13th ODI in the ICC World Cup 2007 was a significant match for both West Indies and Zimbabwe. The host team showed their intelligence by grabbing the victory over Zimbabwe entering into the Super Eights league. Zimbabwe now has to show their level best in their upcoming match against Pakistan on Wednesday, 21st March, to firm their seat in the 2007 world cup. Zimbabwe was beaten by 6 wickets in yesterday’s match. However, Zimbabwe’s SC Williams got the credit as the Player of the Match for scoring 70 runs off 88 balls.

West Indies won the toss and decided to field first. The pressure from both the teams was obvious in the ground at Sabina Park. Sibanda and Kasteni opened facing the balls of Powell. The first over ended for a zero, and it was Kasteni’s turn in the second over. Oops! He got stumped out in his very first ball from Taylor! What a starting for the West Indies! They started celebrating, and soon came the fall of Sibanda in the 3rd over by Powell. It seemed as if the West Indies team was determined to sail through. When the two wickets fell, the Zimbabweans had scored just 2 runs. Taylor and Powell continued their striking, craving for more and more, and thus came the wicket of Chibhabha at the tenth over. However, it was not an easy task for them. Chibhabha had been trying his hard to deliver the best; scored two 4’s and a total of 12 runs off 25 balls.

Zimbabwe had all their hopes returned when the three batsmen including the wicket keeper Taylor contributed significantly. Taylor had just reached his 11th ODI fifty when he got run out by Samuels. The next wicket followed was that of Matsikenyeri who got caught by veteran Smith at the 18th over. Williams and Chigumbura displayed a gathered momentum towards the end of the innings, and left a decent target of 203 for the West Indies with 70 runs and 30 runs respectively.

The battlefield was then ready for the West Indies. There was an air of tension among the West Indies fans; however, they cheered and greeted the team for their day’s performance. Undoubtedly the team showed their gravity with its openers Gayle and Chanderpaul. The Zimbabwean bowlers came one after another, and they caught Chanderpaul and Gayle in the 18 th and 19th overs respectively. Next it was the turn of Sarwan and Samuel. They could not stay longer; Sarwan managed only 12 while Samuel scored 28. Captain Lara this time outperformed his teammates, scoring a decent 44 from careful deliveries off 68 balls, and remained not out along with DJ Bravo who contributed another significant 37 off 46 balls. The last few overs witnessed the extremely anxious moments for both the teams, with Zimbabweans trying to get the wickets of the duo, Lara and Bravo, and the stubborn West Indians not willing to give up. And West Indies did! Towards the end of the 48 th over, they achieved the target with a stunning 4 followed by a 6 from the magical wand of Lara.

Zimbabwe now face a daunting task of beating a beleaguered Pakistan team. Let us see what happens next.

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