Day 16: Zim throw it away
The Pakistan bowling attack should not be underestimated.
WATCHING Zimbabwe play cricket is not unlike watching South Africa in the early days after readmission. Stressful.
Against Pakistan, our neighbours in red had a great chance to cause an upset, but just couldn’t quite get it done.
Pakistan batted first and managed a painful ‘watching-paint-dry’ 235.
To make matters worse, charismatic Shahid Afridi made a duck, on his birthday.
Misbah made 73 in tuk-tuk fashion but it was, in the end, a match winning knock.
Zimbabwe batted nicely for 30 overs, and when Brendan Taylor was at the crease, looked to be on track for victory.
But Wahab and Irfan had other plans. The two left-arm quicks combined to skittle Zimbabwe, despite a few hearty slogs from Elton Chigumbura.
In the end, Zimbabwe fell 20 runs short.
The result keeps Pakistan in the tournament, but leaves Zim with an uphill battle.
In the other game, England’s miseries continued, despite a promising batting effort where they managed a shade over 300.
Sri Lanka were not perturbed in the least, cruising past the total with only one wicket down.
