Zimbabwe v New Zealand – 1st Twenty20 – Match Recap
Zimbabwe 123 v New Zealand 127 - Kiwis won by 10 wickets (with 39 balls remaining)
Visitors New Zealand beat Zimbabwe in the first T20 International of a two-match T20 series by ten wickets at Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe on Saturday, October 15, 2011.
After being put in to bat by New Zealand, the hosts hoped to post a formidable total in order to grab a win in the series opener.
However, New Zealand made early inroads when on the first delivery of the third over, New Zealand’s strike bowler http://www.senore.com/Cricket/NL-McCullum-c2120 at
deep extra cover. At the time of this wicket, Zimbabwe had posted only ten runs on the board.
When http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CJ-Chibhabha-c1263 after scoring nine runs was caught behind by wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum off the bowling of Mills.
Then in the ninth over, middle-order batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Luke-Woodcock-c1860. The batsman walked back to the pavilion after scoring 16 runs as he provided a commendable support to fellow batsman/skipper
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/BRM-Taylor-c1200 who looked in impeccable form as he smashed spectacular shots all around the park.
At this point in time, Zimbabwe had mustered 50 runs on the board for the loss of three wickets.
The hosts could have gone on to post a mammoth total on the board, however, the lower batting line-up failed to stand against the rampant http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 bowlers.
However, Taylor’s knock was the only highlight of the Zimbabwean innings as he played an unbeaten innings of 50 runs off 46 deliveries to help his side post 123 runs on the board in 20 overs.
From New Zealand, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JDP-Oram-c1681 and Woodcock shared a wicket each.
Coming out to bat, New Zealand openers took charge right from the word go as they batted without any fear against the hosts. They smashed superb shots all around the park, blowing away the Zimbabwean bowling attack to smithereens.
Zimbabwe were taken aback by the onslaught unleashed by openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Guptill-c1980 and Brendon McCullum who seemed indestructible while batting together.
With 124 runs to achieve, New Zealand seemed in a hurry to wrap things up quickly while Zimbabwe were running out of time to bowl out the opponents.
In the end, New Zealand reached the required target in 13.3 overs as Guptill and McCullum stayed unbeaten on 40 and 81 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/BB-McCullum-c1129 was named as the Player of the Match for his prolific show with the bat.
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