235/3 (41.4)
CR : 5.64
231/9 (50.0)
CR : 4.62
Zimbabwe won by 7 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
Sean Williams
3/4143(53)
ZIM won by 7 wickets
7:19 PM IST | And with that brilliant cameo of Sikandar Raza Zimbabwe have clinched a comfortable victory! They defeat the Netherlands by 7 wickets and clinch this ODI Series 2-1! A huge boost of confidence for Zimbabwe ahead of their World Cup Qualifiers!
Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat first, the decision looked good as the opening partnership of Vikramjit Singh and Max O'Dowd piled on 67 runs for the first wicket as Netherlands looked well on their way to a good total on this wicket. However, both the openers went back in quick succession and the Dutch never recovered after that.
Owing to some tight bowling and regular wickets, Zimbabwe managed to restrict Netherlands to a total of 231/9 from their 50 overs. Max O'Dowd top scored for them with 38 runs from 43 deliveries, while the other batters too got starts but were not able to convert it into a big score. Sikandar Raza was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe as he picked up 2/55 from his quota of 10 overs.
Come the chase, it was important for Zimbabwe to get off to a good start and that's what the openers accomplished. Wessly Madhevere and Craig Ervine stitched together a 96 run opening stand to put Zimbabwe in cruise control with the former going onto score a total of 50 runs from 61 balls.
After the fall of first wicket, Gary Ballance walked in and Zimbabwe never looked back. The Southpaw scored an unbeaten 64 runs off 72 deliveries to take him team over the finish line with brilliant support from Sean Williams and a late innings cameo from Raza. Shariz Ahmad was the pick of the bowlers for Netherlands as he picked up 2/71 from his 9.4 overs.
In the end, Zimbabwe managed to outclass Netherlands in all departments today to take home a comprehensive win and the series! They will be looking to keep this momentum going the next time they play ODI cricket in a bid to play in this year's ICC Cricket World Cup! Netherlands meanwhile will be proud of their performance in this series and will go back to the drawing board to improve the areas that are lacking!
Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat first, the decision looked good as the opening partnership of Vikramjit Singh and Max O'Dowd piled on 67 runs for the first wicket as Netherlands looked well on their way to a good total on this wicket. However, both the openers went back in quick succession and the Dutch never recovered after that.
Owing to some tight bowling and regular wickets, Zimbabwe managed to restrict Netherlands to a total of 231/9 from their 50 overs. Max O'Dowd top scored for them with 38 runs from 43 deliveries, while the other batters too got starts but were not able to convert it into a big score. Sikandar Raza was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe as he picked up 2/55 from his quota of 10 overs.
Come the chase, it was important for Zimbabwe to get off to a good start and that's what the openers accomplished. Wessly Madhevere and Craig Ervine stitched together a 96 run opening stand to put Zimbabwe in cruise control with the former going onto score a total of 50 runs from 61 balls.
After the fall of first wicket, Gary Ballance walked in and Zimbabwe never looked back. The Southpaw scored an unbeaten 64 runs off 72 deliveries to take him team over the finish line with brilliant support from Sean Williams and a late innings cameo from Raza. Shariz Ahmad was the pick of the bowlers for Netherlands as he picked up 2/71 from his 9.4 overs.
In the end, Zimbabwe managed to outclass Netherlands in all departments today to take home a comprehensive win and the series! They will be looking to keep this momentum going the next time they play ODI cricket in a bid to play in this year's ICC Cricket World Cup! Netherlands meanwhile will be proud of their performance in this series and will go back to the drawing board to improve the areas that are lacking!
It's time for the post-match presentations.
A commemorative token is given to Aleem Dar for officiating 225 ODIs.
Scott Edwards(Netherlands Captain): "possibly insufficient runs. We believed we had enough, but they played well in the pitch. It was undoubtedly one of those games, but we should not have won the first game despite fighting back. Overall, we've done quite well across the board. We're going right into the South Africa series, where hopefully we can win a game or two."
Seam Williams (Player of the Match): "Yeah definitely I think it's a nice feeling winning the series and also a nice feeling to contribute to the team. Obviously, the off-spinners really bowled well and 232 was easy to chase. We needed the 2-3 good partnerships in the middle and we did it well. This series was hard but we performed well. Definitely, we are preparing for that World Cup qualifiers."
Sean Williams is also the Player of the Series!
Craig Ervine (Zimbabwe Captain): "Most certainly, we pulled the game back very nicely after the first 10 overs with spin restricting them to a score we though was chaseable. The partnership we had was great and took the pressure off the middle order. It's nice to easy those guys back in the runs, such a special player of us and it's always nice to see different guys put their hands up. We still have a lot of work to do and we got a little break now to iron out a few things."
Craig Ervine collects the trophy on behalf of Zimbabwe and the celebrations can now begin!
7:38 PM IST | Well that's all for today folks! Zimbabwe with a fantastic series victory heading into the World Cup qualifiers! This is Anirudh, signing off on behalf of my co-commentators Saipavan and Deepak and our scorers/analysts Raju and Ashok!
It was our pleasure to bring you the LIVE ball-by-ball action from the 3rd ODI! Stay Tuned for much more cricketing action! See you on the next one!
It was our pleasure to bring you the LIVE ball-by-ball action from the 3rd ODI! Stay Tuned for much more cricketing action! See you on the next one!