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DATE : 01-10-1997

VENUE : Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

MATCH : 1st ODI

Writer : Karthik Narayan

Welcome once again to our special feature covering all the Tied Test matches and ODIs from the very beginning of this wonderful game of cricket. Today’s match is ODI #1235, played between New Zealand and Zimbabwe on 1st October 1997, at Bulawayo.

This was the first match of this series, and winning this was very important for both the teams. Below are the lineups of the two teams on that day:

Zimbabwe
Gavin Rennie, Grant Flower, Alistair Campbell (Captain), Andy Flower, Guy Whittall, Dave Houghton, Craig Evans, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, John Rennie, Andy Whittall.

New Zealand
Craig Spearman, Nathan Astle, Matthew Horne, Sthephen Fleming (Captain), Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan, Adam Parore, Chris Harris, Daniel Vettori, Gavin Larsen, Shayne O'Connor

Toss: The Zimbabwean captain Alistair Campbell won the toss and elected to bat first to make use of home conditions.

Zimbabwe's Innings:

Shayne O’Connor started off beautifully swinging the ball prodigiously and success soon came his way - Gavin Rennie and Campbell fell to the left arm seamer. At 22/2, the Flower brothers had to pull back things from the claw of the Kiwis. Useful partnership by them saw the home side pull past the 100 run mark. But at 101, Andrew Flower made a mistake of playing on off Gavin Larsen. Larsen’s accuracy once again got the better of Guy Whittall. Grant Flower played a solid steady innings, while wickets fell at regular intervals. Eventually after a nice 66, Vettori dismissed him. Just 3 runs were added since the loss of Whittall.

Former captain Dave Houghton, Big man Craig Evans and Paul Strang strung little useful partnerships and Zimbabwe got the impetus to go past 200, and the final score from their 50 over quota was 233/8. O’Connor was the tidiest bowler giving just 28 runs off his 8 overs taking two wickets as well.

New Zealand's Innings:

The Black Caps’ approach towards their 234 target had a major setback when John Rennie (the seamer who bowled all those amazing off cutters and then disappeared fast!) got rid of Spearman and Astle with the score of 14 on the board. Mathew Horne did the same thing that Grant Flower did for Zimbabwe – stay there and stick to the basics.

Stephen Fleming and Chris Cairns gave enough company to help Horne get to his half century. But a cameo by Cairns – 26 off just 17 balls with five hits to the boundary really swung the match around. After his dismissal, Zimbabweans clung on with quick wickets. 85/4 became 100/6, and the team was in dire straits. But then, only in such bad shape, the hero arrives onto the scene!

Horne was the lone survivor from the top six when Chris Harris came to the crease – and their 37 run stand was right when New Zealand needed it most. Horne made bad judgment of a run and was caught short of the crease. What was most needed now was the tail to stick with Harris and the match was always in the balance.

Harris did a wonderful job, initially helmed the fight back, but as the newcomer Vettori got some confidence, they both made those valuable runs. Harris completed a great fighting gritty half ton. At Vettori’s exit, the game once again titled in favor of the Zimbabweans.
 

But that brave man, Larsen played a stellar role in the rest of the evening – Harris and Larsen ran their runs hard and clinched the match down to the last over. The last over was a cliff hanger – really it all boiled down to the last ball and New Zealand were ever so close and yet so far when Gavin Larsen’s desperate run was cut short by a sharp fielding and throw to the keeper Andy Flower who dislodged the bails in a flash. Scores were level and Harris (unbeaten on a splendid 77) was left hanging his bat in vain.

Chris Harris no doubt was declared man of the match. History goes down to tell us that this series was drawn 0-0.

That meant that the game was a TIE! This was the third tie in a single year, with already two in the same month (February) this was indeed a special year for TIED matches!

Brief Scores :

Zim 233/8 (Grant Flower 66 Andy Flower 35 Dave Houghton 40, O'Connor 2/28) tied with NZ 233/9 (Horne 55 Harris 77, John Rennie 2/47)
 

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