|
KP bats Zims out
of the contest |
Link to
Scorecard
 England
batted and bowled beautifully at Cape Town to
keep a highly confident Zimbabwe down. Kevin
Pietersen led the way with his power hitting to
set a big total and the bowlers brought all
their Twenty20 experience to good effect to help
England win by a huge margin of 50 runs.
Zimbabwe had played well though giving a scare
or two to England at the start of their chase.
Paul Collingwood took
the brave option of batting first on a slow
Newlands wicket in Cape Town. Elton Chigumbura
cast the doubts in the English camp about the
decision with a couple of quick wickets which
included the dangerous Luke Wright, who was out
for a first ball duck. Matt Prior pulled things
back scoring 20 from 14 with 2 fours and a six
that got England past the 50 in the six overs of
field restrictions. After that cameo from Prior,
it was a Pietersen-Collingwood show for the next
10 overs. Both batsmen smashed 100 runs for the
fourth wicket with KP batting as if he had a
point to prove to the South Africans. The South
African born not only got his powerful shots
batting right handed but also surprised and
stunned everyone by sweeping a six over covers
with a reverse sweep after turning his stance
like a left hander! Pietersen's 79 from 37 had 7
fours and 4 sixes. England's push towards
hitting a big total was given a jolt by a flurry
of wickets which started with Collingwood's
wicket. Collingwood batted well for his 37 from
28 which had two sixes. England were towards the
end restricted to 188 for 9 with the likes of
Freddie Flintoff, Mascarenhas failing. Elton
Chigumbura was the bowling star with 4 for 31 in
his four overs.
Vusumuzi Sibanda and
Brendan Taylor after their success against
Aussies last night continued from where they had
left. Zimbabwe looked very much in the hunt with
the partnership already at 74 in the 9th over
but Sibanda once again threw away his wicket
playing a rash shot. Sibanda made 29 from 25
with 5 fours. Mascarenhas was the wicket taker
who went onto take the wickets of Taibu and
Taylor to push Zimbabwe back with some excellent
variations like the leg cutters, outswingers and
inswingers. Taylor's was the big wicket, falling
for a well made 47 from 39 which had 4 fours and
2 sixes. After Taylor's fight, it was too
difficult for the new batsmen to walk in and
score runs at a high pace. Chris Scofield, the
leg spinner bowled intelligently taking up two
wickets in his 4 overs besides giving away just
15. Mascarenhas had earlier done the damage with
his superb 3 for 18 in his 4 overs. Eventually
Zimbabwe were reduced to 138 for 7.
Top of the Page |
Related Links