Towering Zimbabwe trio bring in pace to rattle Oman in World Cup opener
Zimbabwe made a thunderous return to the global stage, leveraging their height and heat to dismantle Oman by eight wickets at the Sinhalese Sports Club. In a historic first for the Chevrons, their pace trio; all of whom stand well over six feet, claimed nine out of ten wickets, restricting Oman to a meagre 103.
"Six-foot-plus" siege
Zimbabwe’s pace battery exploited the bouncy SSC track from the first delivery, leaving Oman’s top order reeling at 24/4 by the end of the Powerplay.
Blessing Muzarabani (3/16): The Player of the Match set the tone early, clean bowling Oman captain Jatinder Singh and removing the middle order with steep bounce.
Richard Ngarava (3/17): The left-armer was lethal with the new ball and returned to clean up the tail, reaching 111 T20I wickets in the process.
Brad Evans (3/18): Chipped in with three scalps, including a wicket set up by a sensational diving catch from Brian Bennett at deep mid-wicket.
I've seen that picture far too many times. As soon as I saw him limping, I wanted him out. We won't take chances with his fitness.
Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe Captain on Brendan Taylor
Bennett and Taylor steady the ship
Chasing 104, Zimbabwe faced a brief scare when Sufyan Mehmood took two wickets in an over, but a composed 68-run stand between Brian Bennett and Brendan Taylor extinguished any hopes of an upset.
Brian Bennett: Remained unbeaten on 48 off 36 balls*, top-scoring and directing the chase with maturity.
Brendan Taylor: Scored a vital 31 before pulling his hamstring while completing a second run in the 13th over. He is currently being monitored by the medical team ahead of Friday’s clash.
Captain Sikandar Raza smashed a cracking cover drive for four to seal the win with 39 balls to spare.
