Zimbabwe make History

 

Written By: Rahat Z Dar

On August 31, 2014 at Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe make history as they beat Australia in One-Dayers after three decades. it was off to a flying start for Zimbabwe as Michael Clarke the Australian skipper won the toss and chose to bat first, but it was the Zimbabwean bowlers; mainly spinners, who dominated the first innings, till the key to scoring runs the Australian skipper pulled a hamstring that ruled him out from the remaining matches of the Tri-series, but somewhat the injured skipper managed to put up 68 runs off 102 balls, not a single Aussie batsmen could settle on the spin-friendly pitch alongside the skipper to build a partnership, only Haddin's 49 and Cutting's cameo at no. 10 helped the Australian team reach the target of over 200 runs, which from Zimbabwe's perspective was a challenge itself to chase down, and it looked even unlikely when the second innings started and within a few overs after a slow yet positive start Zimbabwe were 5 down for 105 at a point, and when Lyon reached his career-best figure 4-44, it was almost unbelievable for the Zimmers to chase it down. But Zimbabwean skipper who watched wickets tumbling down gradually from the other end became the key and scored 52* off 68 which lessened the distance to their target, with the help of Utseya and their 8th wicket partnership scoring 50 runs in 59 balls, helped them bag their second ever win against Australia, it was Utseya who inspite of being 8 wickets down, went for a big hit and scored a 6 over mid-wicket which wrapped up the match in an outstanding and memorable way. Zimbabwe finally tasted the well deserved victory after struggling to bag one in the Tri-series.