da wazamba： This report has been made possible by the Scottish CricketSupporters, who gave me a lift to the Harare South Country Clubground when I was unable to get petrol during the current fuelcrisis
da apostebet： John Ward25-Dec-2009This report has been made possible by the Scottish CricketSupporters, who gave me a lift to the Harare South Country Clubground when I was unable to get petrol during the current fuelcrisis. Thanks very much to them all.It was a most interesting match in which the balance swungunexpectedly from one side to the other, before Zimbabwe Afinally gained their first victory of the tournament by 8 runs.Zimbabwe A recovered well after being seriously tied down byaccurate bowling, while Scotland made a gallant challenge forvictory after defeat seemed inevitable. Craig Evans was one ofthe changes to the Zimbabwean team, which was noticeably quieteron the field and well led by Gavin Rennie in a pleasantatmosphere.Scotland put Zimbabwe A in to bat on winning the toss on a warm,generally sunny morning. The pitch was good but the outfieldthick, making run-scoring rather difficult. After DarlingtonMatambanadzo played out a maiden over from James Brinkley, MarkVermeulen got off the mark with an exquisitely timed square cutfor four off Craig Wright, but it was to be his only scoringstroke. With the total on 7, he was beaten and bowled byBrinkley, with a ball that straightened and had him playing downthe wrong line.Matambanadzo, as often, settled in slowly and kept finding thefielders, as did his new partner Neil Ferreira. After showingsome signs of frustration, Matambanadzo finally managed to gettwo drives away for three, but accurate bowling frustrated themas they tried to work the ball around for ones and twos. Thescore was only 45 in the 18th over when Ferreira called for arisky single on the leg side, Matambanadzo was late in rejectingthe call, and Ferreira was run out for 9, Douglas Lockhartrunning in to field from midwicket.Gavin Rennie came close to being run out as he got off the markwith a similarly risky single. Matambanadzo, several timesstepping down the pitch to try to force away the bowling, workedhard and reached a well-deserved fifty, mainly through drives,edges and some rather risky singles. He was eventually run outfor 62, responding late to a risky call by Rennie, giving thebowler Drew Parsons time to throw down the stumps. The score wasnow 117 for three, and Matambanadzo later paid tribute to thehighly disciplined and accurate bowling that made it so hard toscore.Rennie did not last much longer; forced to take risks to improvethe run rate, he skyed a catch off Brinkley to captain GeorgeSalmond at mid-off. The score was 129 for four in the 36th over.This left two new batsmen, Greg Lamb and Dion Ebrahim, to boosta disappointing scoring rate, and this they did with some finerunning between wickets Ebrahim in particular nipping back andforth like lightning. So enterprisingly did they bat that thebowling lost some of its accuracy, and at one point CraigMcKellar earned a round of applause from his teammates forbowling a rare dot ball.200 looked a possibility or the first time, but the boundary washard to reach, apart from a sweep by Ebrahim. Finally a swing tothe long-leg boundary off the final ball of the innings took thetotal to 205 for four wickets, Lamb on 40 and Ebrahim 36. Thepair had added 76 runs in just under 13 overs and given theirteam a decided advantage.Lockhart and Neil McRae opened steadily for Scotland, waiting forthe bad ball to punish, and put on 28 together before the lattersnicked a catch to first slip Vermeulen off Everton Matambanadzofor 12. Ayaz Gul was almost immediately dropped, a hard chanceto the keeper off ‘Pommie’ Mbangwa, and then settled down withLockhart to take the scored through to 60. Lockhart opened hisshoulders and swung Andre Hoffman almost for six over long-on,but soon after stepped down the pitch to drive Ian Engelbrechtand was smartly stumped by Ferreira for 26. Soon afterwards Gul(20) played a half-hearted drive against Paul Strang, yet anotherintroduction into this team, and lobbed a low catch towardsbackward point, where it was caught by Hoffman diving low. At 68for three, in the 25th over, Scotland were in some difficulty.Drew Parsons reacted to the situation with attack, twice pullingEngelbrecht fiercely to square leg, the second shot to besuperbly saved by Everton Matambanadzo. Briefly the pairthreatened to take charge, but then captain George Salmond (6)hammered Rennie at about knee-height to Mbangwa at deepish mid-onand departed for his first failure of the tour; 85 for four.New batsman Colin Smith immediately unleashed a ferociousoff-drive for four, but then the aggressive Parsons, sweeping atRennie, was adjudged lbw on the front foot for 17. At 92 forfive, Scotland’s chances of victory now appeared very slim. Themiddle order did not give up, with Smith and Wright battingusefully together until the latter, as non-striker, called for aquick leg-bye, a risky call to which Smith (13) was late inresponding, giving time for Ferreira to throw the ball to thebowler Rennie for an easy run-out. Then Wright (19) swattedStrang to midwicket where Vermeulen nonchalantly reached down topluck an ankle-high catch. At 123 for seven all seemed lost.Brinkley and Gregor Maiden was also resolved to go on fighting,although the required scoring rate steadily rose to about eightan over. They enjoyed a few snicks and had a few lusty blows,until Maiden (13) swung Rennie round the corner for DarlingtonMatambanadzo to grasp the ball low down. He appeared either tolose control or toss the ball away immediately in celebration,but the batsman walked and Scotland were 143 for eight.Then, as the pace bowlers returned, Brinkley launched a powerfulassault with some clean, straight hitting. He alone of thebatsmen in the match seemed able to reach the boundary, and withtwo overs to go Scotland were still in with a chance, 21 needed.Brinkley hit Everton Matambanadzo wide of long-on for four, thentook a single into the covers. Cox took one to the left ofmidwicket, then Brinkley hit to midwicket, took two to long-onand then a single from a difficult chance to Ebrahim at long-off.Mbangwa was to bowl the last over with 12 needed for victory.Brinkley took one to mid-on, then Cox swung and missed. Brinkleycharged down the pitch, backing up for a single, while Ferreirathrew the ball towards the bowler’s end aiming for a run-out.Brinkley, seeing it coming, stopped it with his foot,deliberately and hoping he would get away with it as he latergood-naturedly admitted, and was given out ‘obstructing thefield’. He scored 54 off 47 balls, with 5 fours. Thiseffectively ended Scotland’s gallant challenge, Cox and McKellartaking a single apiece before Cox (3) skyed a simple return catch- all out 197.Both teams shook hands with smiles all round in true sportingspirit at the end of a fine match, and both presented gifts toeach other. This is all in the true spirit of the game, whichwas sadly lacking from the match against Holland.
