Ton-up http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Elton-Chigumbura-c55937 rescues Zimbabwe from trouble
Elton Chigumbura’s unbeaten century helped Zimbabwe take their score to 244 against Ireland in the warm-up match of the ICC World Cup 2011 at Nagpur.
The wicket did not have much support for the bowlers but it was dry and a touch slower. This forced Chigumbura to bat first after winning the toss.
The start to the Zimbabwean innings was below par. Both openers Brendan http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 and Charles Coventry failed to make an impression and lost their wickets after scoring 1 and 5 runs respectively.
Considering the nature of the wicket, Zimbabwe shuffled their batting order and sent Coventry up the order but he failed to impress.
Sean http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Williams-c98034 was also not able to stay at the crease for a long time and was dismissed after scoring 3 runs.
Zimbabwe lost 3 wickets for just 12 runs and were in a big trouble. However, veteran wicketkeeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tatenda-Taibu-c92882 steadied the innings for his team with support from Craig Ervine.
The pair constructed a 62-run partnership for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 and rescued them from trouble. However, Ervine was run out after scoring 27 runs off 53 balls, which put them on the back foot yet again.
Taibu failed to capitalise on the start he received and was dismissed after scoring 45 runs off 78 balls. Zimbabwe were in deep trouble with 5 wickets down for just 100 runs in 31.1 overs.
Chigumbura and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Prosper-Utseya-c82728 paired at the crease for a 50-run partnership and took the team over 150 in the 43rd over.
Utseya was out after scoring 26 runs from 40 balls, but this did not bother the Zimbabwean captain. He took the attack to the Irish bowlers and smashed the ball to all parts of the park.
Chigumbura finished the innings with an unbeaten 103 runs off just 81 balls. He struck eight fours and three towering sixes.
Trent Johnston and Andre Botha were the main wicket takers for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751. They took 2 wickets each for their team and restricted Zimbabwe below 250.
However, Ireland will be disappointed as they would have liked to bowl out the Zimbabwean team well within 200.
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