ICC World Cup 2011: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 – Warm up match – update
Boyd Rankin and Trent Johnston bowled a superb opening spell for Ireland, taking three wickets in order to rattle Zimbabwe, in the warm-up match at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vidarbha-c860 Cricket Stadium, Nagpur.
Zimbabwe, who won the toss, elected to bat first on a flat deck. There decision backfired, as they stuttered to a grim 31-run total for the loss of three wickets in 14 overs.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tatenda-Taibu-c92882 is still batting on 17 runs, while Craig Ervine has just arrived at the crease, scoring 3 runs. In the process, the pair has added 19 runs between them.
In the first hour the pitch had a bit of juice in it for the bowlers, and Irish seamers took complete advantage of an early morning start. The seam bowlers moved the new-ball around in order to trouble the batsmen and earn some valuable top-order wickets.
Rankin was too hot to handle, as he managed to extract extra bounce from a slow track. The tall fast bowler hit the deck hard and bowled on a short length. He used his height to good effect, as he consistently beat the bat of the openers, Charles Coventry,
and, Brendon http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915.
Nevertheless, Trent Johnston has been the pick of the bowlers of his team, registering brilliant figures of 2 for 9 in 5 incisive overs. Johnston consistently pitched his balls in the corridor of uncertainty. The right-arm bowler moved the in the air and
seamed it off the track.
The rest of the bowlers kept things tight at one end. John Mooney gave only four 4 runs in his three overs.
Earlier, Zimbabwe got off to a poor start, as they lost their first wicket in the second over. Taylor was the first batsmen to leave the pitch, adding a run to his team’s total. He was undone by a beautiful out-swinger from Johnston.
Meanwhile, Coventry also struggled to middle the ball and he only managed to score 5 runs off 16 deliveries. His downfall was brought about by Rankin with a length delivery. The delivery stood tall on the batsmen, and he poked at it, edging it through to
the wicket keeper, where Gary http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wilson-c98046 took a clean catch.
Johnston was far from over, as he provided his team with another breakthrough, getting rid of Sean http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Williams-c98034 with an away-going delivery, leaving the opposition wobbling at 12 for 3 in eight overs.
The ongoing partnership between Taibu and Ervine is of a crucial importance to Zimbabwe, as it will have an impact on their final score-line.
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