Townsville (Queensland) Aug 28 : A half century from opener David Warner and a patient unbeaten 48 from Steve Smith more than made up for an unimpressive performance by Australia captain Aaron Finch as the hosts defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets with more than 16 extra overs in the first One-Day International here on Sunday.
Underdogs Zimbabwe did have the courage to take on the Australian bowlers with top order batter Wessly Madhevere scoring 72 and opener Tadiwanashe marumani scoring 45 in the total of 200 in 47.3 overs.
Madhevere was 21 years old and scored the best scoring of his 23 ODI games to date and demonstrated that Zimbabwe have a talented batsman to build their top-order around in the near future.
However the tall Australian all-rounder Cameron Green kept tormenting the players, with figures of 5/33 as Steve Smith pulled in a spectacular catch from the outfield, limiting Zimbabwe to an acceptable score.
Smith, a former 33-year-old Australia captain, showed incredible athleticism when he ran backwards from mid-off, while sprinting against the direction of the ball to make an incredible catch to eliminate Zimbabwe batter Tony Munyonga off the bowling of Adam Zampa.
It was a crucial breakthrough for the Australians, with Zimbabwe playing well at at 104/2 in the 25th over, and appearing placed to put up a massive score.Green was able to complete the task for Zimbabwe, scoring his first five wicket record in international cricket.
The hosts managed chase the winning target in just 33.3 innings, with Warner in the middle, and Smith and Glenn Maxwell (32 not out) completed the task.
It has helped Australia gain 10 points in the Super League standings as they increase their chance of directly qualifying for next year’s World Cup in India.Australia currently is in eighth place in the list with scores of 80 points in 13 games played and Zimbabwe are in 12th with only 35 points from 19 games.
The eight top teams will receive an immediate entry into the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, whereas the remaining teams will have to participate in qualifying matches together with five associate teams in order to be eligible for the tournament.
Brief score: Zimbabwe 200 in 47.3 overs (Tadiwanashe Marumani 45, Wessly Madhevere 72; Cameron Green 5/33, Adam Zampa 3/5) defeated by Australia in 201/5 in 33.3 overs (David Warner 57, Steven Smith 48 not out) by five wickets.
akm/
