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March 19, 2007 (Link to Scorecard)

Hosts West Indies overcame a decent challenge put up by the Zims in their Group D Match at Kingston. Brian Lara was required to see his side home by 6 wickets with 13 deliveries to spare. Zimbabwe made a match out of it by setting a target of 203.

The Zimbabwean team was put into bat first by Lara and they were off to a dreadful start losing four wickets for just 59 on the board. The rescue act came from its wicket keeper, Brendan Taylor (50 from 121 with a four and a six) and the left handed Sean Williams, who remained not out on an 88-ball 70 which had 7 fours. Both these batsmen shared an 83-run stand for the 5th wicket. Elton Chigumbura chipped in with more than a run-a-ball 30 with five hits to the ropes. Jerome Taylor was the pick of the bowlers taking a couple of wickets right at the start.

The chase for the Windies was a slow and a cautious one from Gayle and Chanderpaul. They finally got going when Chris Gayle decided enough was enough to smack medium pacer Tawanda Mupariwa for three consecutive sixes. But Zimbabweans fought back by picking up wickets to keep their interest alive. There was some sort of pressure on the homeside but eventually a 75-run partnership between two Trinidadians had sealed the game. One was Skipper Brian Lara, who scored a measured 44 from 68 with 2 fours and a six, the other batsman was Dwayne Bravo remaining unbeaten on 37 from 46 with three fours and two sixes. Chris Gayle had earlier scored 40 from 48 with three fours along with those hat-trick of sixers. The other batsmen missed out in contributing anything important. Although it was the homeside that had won this match, the Man of the Match award deservingly went to Sean Williams for his stroke-filled essay. Windies with this victory have moved onto the next round, the other team joining them from this group will be either Ireland or Zimbabwe if they can beat a demoralized Pakistan team by a good margin.

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