Tossed up right up to the toes, plants his front leg and executes the sweep well but finds the fielder at square leg who makes no mistake, shows great presence of mind, sharp throw to Evans at non-striker's end and he quickly whips off the bails to seal the deal for Zimbabwe. They have completely dominated the proceedings and won by the second biggest margin ever in ODIs! Old hand Sean Williams took the game away with a mammoth 174 which was laced with 21 fours and five sixes
Zimbabwe vs U.S.A., 17th Match, Group A at Harare, CWC Qualifier, Jun 26 2023 - Ball by Ball Commentary
Thanks for joining us, peeps. It's time for me, Rvel Zahid, to say goodbye on behalf of Peter Della Penna and Harshith Gowda. We'll see you soon!
Zimbabwe have bagged the second biggest win by runs in men's ODIs. They scored their highest total in ODIs surpassing 351 against Kenya and it was also the highest-ever total at Harare Sports Club. They were clinical in all departments of the game and completely outgunned USA in this lop-sided affair, winning by a whopping 304 run-margin as we saw a massive gulf between the two sides. Zimbabwe are on top of their group with eight points and will be riding super high on confidence before entering the all-important Super Six stage.
Monank Patel, USA Captain: We haven't played our best cricket and I feel like mentally we need to be strong and come back stronger in the next game. Our batting department has been struggling and we got a few chances dropped otherwise it would have been less than 400 but still I would say lots of learnings from this game. One by one everyone started to get the flu in the last two days. Our main bowlers Ali Khan and Saurabh got the (flu) I think they will recover in a couple of days and I am looking forward to the next game. I think we should be able to play with our best 11
Sean Williams, Zimbabwe Captain: Having the greats of the game around today, Andy and all of you there inspires us. It's very pleasing and obviously having four new players in our team I think it was really good the intensity that they showed from the ball up front was also bang on. I think we have been trying against Pakistan to play with this pattern. All of the guys are starting to slowly fit in and understand the pattern. I think multiple contributions from each and every individual really pleased me. All those small contributions played a massive part. Even in the fielding as well I thought picking up three run-outs in a game is work in the right direction I think we don't have to change much in our game. We have found our momentum and we are looking forward to carrying it. Obviously, it's a different venue, and everything about it is different but still having that crowd behind us is always like having a 12th man.
Jaison: "Sean William's won by 70 runs"
ZCFOutkast: "Sri Lanka should be fearful of Zimbabwe. As should some of the other sides in the CWC in near similar conditions. Zimbabwe will arguably have one of the most experienced batting orders."
Bill: "Spare a thought for Jessy Singh and Paradkar who batted extremely well for lower-order batsmen"
Rams the yorker on sixth stump line, manages to get some bat on it and it goes fluttering away to third man
Fraction short and wide, patted into the covers
Banged in short and follows him up as he was shimming down leg, blocks the rising delivery to the off side
Booming square cut past point, right under the stroke, just picks it up off his toes and sends it soaring away. A magnificent shot
Darts in a thunderbolt at a hard length and it goes dancing away outside off as he throws the kitchen sink at it and gets beaten
Darting in from round the wicket on a shortish length, zinging it back at Kenjige who gets right behind the line and defends it under his eyes
Floy G, UK: "Just been watching some of the live coverage on TV and it looks like the fans singing and dancing in the stands will be more tired at the end of this than the players themselves!" haha! Zimbabwe will use the energy reserves in the Super Six to give other sides a run for their money
Esh: "Woah, this tournament is getting heated everyday. The Super 6 round is going to be a treat to watch. Underrated tournament.
Shapes it back in from off, he plants forward and punches this down the pitch
Finally gets it right, floats it up on a length, outside off, beaten on the cut
Dishes out another wide this time outside off
Shorter delivery, straightens too much down the leg side, wide signaled
Tossed up a fuller legbreak outside off, squeezes it out to extra cover's left
Madhevere holds a nifty catch at sweeper position, came charging from the deep, tracks the ball from the bat, through the air, towards him and then into his hand, couldn't clear deep extra cover and mistimed the shot
Lobbed up, spinning away sharply outside off, beats the late cut
Tossed up legbreak on a full length, width on offer, he picked the length early and pounded it over the bowler's head for a blistering boundary. That was absolutely leathered!
Nearly chopped on! Short of a length, meandering away outside off, warily prods at it and got late in dabbing his bat down
Goes full outside off, takes the outside edge and it drops short of Gumbie who does well to pouch the ball
Run out chance gone begging as he punches it away to cover and Evans pings a sharp throw at non-striker's end that goes flashing past the stumps
Follows it up with another nasty bumper and this time it's much closer to the body, slinks back and tries to hook it away, the ball bounces steeply and goes over his head
Pacers have got their tails up now and they are trying to wrap it up quickly as Ngarava bangs it short and gets it to lift insanely off the deck on fifth stump line, goes for the hook, looking a bit ungainly
Round the wicket, slammed into the pitch, holds its line just outside off, he drags it across the line to square of midwicket