203/10 (41.1)
CR : 4.93
234/8 (50.0)
CR : 4.68
Scotland won by 31 runs 🏆
Over 41
Zimbabwe 203/9
Blessing Muzarabani3(8)
Tendai Chatara2(13)
Mark Watt1-36(9.0)
41.1
W
S Sharif to T Chatara
WICKET! 100 wickets for Sharif and Chatara has been cleaned up here. Full and straight angling in here, Chatara looks to defend and gets beaten here. The ball goes through to clatter the stumps. Scotland have done it as Zimbabwe have been knocked out of the tournament.
SCOTLAND HAVE ALMOST BOOKED THEIR TICKETS TO THE ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2023 TO BE PLAYED IN INDIA! ZIMBABWE HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY ELIMINATED!
T Chatara 2(14)
b S Sharif
4s/6s
0/0
SR
14.29
SCO won by 31 runs
7:40 PM IST, 4:10 PM Local time: Scotland has written history defeating home team Zimbabwe by 31 runs in their own turf and almost becoming the second team to qualify for the ICC Cricket World cup, India 2023!
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bowl first citing they would want to take early wickets in the first powerplay but failed to break the opening partnership until they added 56 runs in 16.1 overs.
Seven Scotland batters reached double figures with Michael Leask top scoring with 48 in 34 balls. Mark Watt provided the late impetus scoring 21 in 15 balls remaining unbeaten till the end.
Defending just 235 runs, Scotland pace bowler Chris Sole charged straightaway picking up a wicket off the very first ball of the innings and picked up 3 top order wickets of Joylord Gumbie, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams.
Sikandar Raza (34) and Ryan Burl added 54 runs for the 5th wicket saving the tottering team but Raza was dismissed against the run of play by Chris Greaves in the 18th over. Burl carried out the good work adding 73 runs with Wessly Madhevere (40) and was the penultimate wicket to fall when the team needed just 38 more runs to win with plenty of overs left.
It didn't take long for the Scottish bowlers to get that one wicket with Safyaan Sharif getting the final wicket. Brandon McMullen (2/31) and Michael Leask (2/33) got 2 each with Mark Watt, Chris Greaves and Sharif getting one wicket apiece.
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bowl first citing they would want to take early wickets in the first powerplay but failed to break the opening partnership until they added 56 runs in 16.1 overs.
Seven Scotland batters reached double figures with Michael Leask top scoring with 48 in 34 balls. Mark Watt provided the late impetus scoring 21 in 15 balls remaining unbeaten till the end.
Defending just 235 runs, Scotland pace bowler Chris Sole charged straightaway picking up a wicket off the very first ball of the innings and picked up 3 top order wickets of Joylord Gumbie, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams.
Sikandar Raza (34) and Ryan Burl added 54 runs for the 5th wicket saving the tottering team but Raza was dismissed against the run of play by Chris Greaves in the 18th over. Burl carried out the good work adding 73 runs with Wessly Madhevere (40) and was the penultimate wicket to fall when the team needed just 38 more runs to win with plenty of overs left.
It didn't take long for the Scottish bowlers to get that one wicket with Safyaan Sharif getting the final wicket. Brandon McMullen (2/31) and Michael Leask (2/33) got 2 each with Mark Watt, Chris Greaves and Sharif getting one wicket apiece.
Chris Sole (Player of the Match): "Thanks very much. I was told to bowl as quick as I can and bowled at the right areas. Glad it worked. We were in the game. It was not an easy pitch. We needed to be there and glad we got it. Beating them in their own backyard is great. We are not thinking too far ahead yet. We have an important game against the Netherlands coming up. But special to beat Zimbabwe and we will cherish it."
Craig Ervine (Zimbabwe Captain): "Certainly. We did well to restrict them to 230. The first spell from Chris Sole was exceptional and that set us back big time. Certainly, we gave away too many runs with the ball at the death but 230 was the score and we should have chased it down.
Disappointing. Everybody is gutted. The demons from 2018 should be put to bed. It's another moment that we will leave it for a long time. I am proud of the guys and the effort. Sean Williams was positive and he couldn't get going, but he was great. But I will dwell on the positives.
Thankful for the crowd that supported us and the way we have played cricket has been great. Last two matches have been difficult, but we have played an exciting brand of cricket. We don't need to change anything going forward. Thank you."
Disappointing. Everybody is gutted. The demons from 2018 should be put to bed. It's another moment that we will leave it for a long time. I am proud of the guys and the effort. Sean Williams was positive and he couldn't get going, but he was great. But I will dwell on the positives.
Thankful for the crowd that supported us and the way we have played cricket has been great. Last two matches have been difficult, but we have played an exciting brand of cricket. We don't need to change anything going forward. Thank you."
Richie Berrington (Scotland Captain): "It was our best performance. Getting those early wickets was the absolute key defending 235 so extremely proud of the boys in terms with the fight they showed in the second half.
Our bowlers have been fantastic all through this tournament. I said it's gonna be absolutely key today. Really pleased for Chris Sole to get man of the match today, he has bowled a couple of outstanding spells through the tournament and managed to get some rewards early on today so its great to see.
We knew that it will come to a stage where we will play a must win game. We can take a lot of confidence from these last 2 wins. We have to recover quick and come back again strong against Netherlands.
The guys have been playing a lot of good cricket. So we can take a lot of confidence from it. So the belief has always been there. As a team we want to look to keep being better every game we play. Thursday's going to be another great occasion, another good test. We just keep backing up these last few performances.
Support from back home has been fantastic and it makes such a big difference. There's also good unity between this group. Hopefully we can kick on from here as I usually say. We look forward to it."
Our bowlers have been fantastic all through this tournament. I said it's gonna be absolutely key today. Really pleased for Chris Sole to get man of the match today, he has bowled a couple of outstanding spells through the tournament and managed to get some rewards early on today so its great to see.
We knew that it will come to a stage where we will play a must win game. We can take a lot of confidence from these last 2 wins. We have to recover quick and come back again strong against Netherlands.
The guys have been playing a lot of good cricket. So we can take a lot of confidence from it. So the belief has always been there. As a team we want to look to keep being better every game we play. Thursday's going to be another great occasion, another good test. We just keep backing up these last few performances.
Support from back home has been fantastic and it makes such a big difference. There's also good unity between this group. Hopefully we can kick on from here as I usually say. We look forward to it."
That's it from an outstanding game of cricket as Scotland presented an astonishing performance to win against a mighty Zimbabwe side. Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Ayan Chatterjee and scorers Ashok Daima and Bishal Mandal.