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Zimbabwe, a nation trying desperately to reclaim its lost glory and distance itself from a ridiculous tag of being labelled minnows, put an ordinary Canadian side very much in its place as they thumped the North Americans by a massive 175 runs in game 11 of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Nagpur on Monday morning. Zimbabwe's win gives them a slender shot at perhaps being able to steal a semi-final spot in what promises to be an exciting Group A.

Having won the toss and chosen to bat first, Zimbabwe overcame the early loss of both openers to post a daunting total of 298-9 in their 50 overs thanks to a record third wicket partnership of 181 between the brilliant Tatenda Taibu (98) and Craig Ervine (85). Both batsmen would consider themselves unfortunate to miss out on getting to three figures with the bowling very much there for the taking.

The amateur Canadians in response had no answer to the experience and guile of the Zimbabwean spin quartet as left armer Ray Price led the way, collecting the first three wickets to fall in a remarkable opening spell of 7-4-12-3.

Some lusty blows from the Canadian tailenders helped push their total into three figures but a final score of 123 was still dismal by any standards on a beautiful batting track and left Elton Chigumbura’s men on an understandable high. In truth though, Zimbabwe could have probably drawn curtains on the Canadian innings far sooner had they kept more than four men in the field and opted for a more attacking approach, rather than waiting for the tail to get themselves out. 

“We have always said that it takes two batsmen to really get set and make a decent score then we can build a total to win,” Chigumbura said. “It was fantastic to see Taibs and Craig as well as they did and then for the spinners, our strength, to wrap up the match. But we are not getting ahead of ourselves. Our target before the tournament was just to get better with each game, and that is what we will aim to do.”

Taibu was fearless from the first ball and deserves much credit for the victory. Having seen Brendan Taylor dismissed lbw to the first ball of the innings from Khurram Chohan and Charles Coventry trapped the same way soon after by Harvir Baidwan, the former skipper might have been forgiven for adopting an ultra-cautious approach with the score at 7-2 in the fourth over.

But it was a near-perfect batting pitch and Taibu was unafraid of the situation, backing himself to put the fielders under pressure with both sharp running and acute shot placement. A top edged sweep denied him a well deserved century but there was plenty of reason to celebrate his innings of 98 from just 99 balls which was etched with nine boundaries.

Ervine, in contrast, allowed himself plenty of time to acclimatise but soon caught up with a series of commanding boundaries displaying both power and a delicate touch. A slog-sweep for six against veteran off spinner John Davison and another which flew straight back over the bowler’s head were as impressive as the late cuts and sweeps which saw him reach 85 from just 81 deliveries until he was caught behind off leg spinner Balaji Rao.

Captain Elton Chigumbura (5) followed soon after both men were dismissed but a mid-innings hiccup from 188-2 to 201-5 did prove fatal – as it has so often before. Sean Williams maintained the momentum with 30 from only 25 balls and even when anticlimax threatened at 219-6 the team were put back on track with mature and innovative cameos from Graeme Cremer (26) and Prosper Utseya (22).

Cremer, Utseya and Greg Lamb all took their bowling queue from Price and took wickets regularly thereafter leaving the Canadians bereft of ideas and confidence. Price had reduced Canada to 7-3 in just the 6th over with the wickets of John Davison, Nitish Kumar and skipper Ashish Bagai, out for a first ball duck.

Ruvindu Gunasekera made a sedate 24 to stem the rot and shared in a 43 run stand with Jimmy Hansra, who chipped in with 20. Both set batsmen fell with the score on 50 and at 66 for 6, another rout looked on the cards. Graeme Cremer chipped in with 3 wickets towards the end to wrap up the innings in the 43rd over, and give Zimbabwe their first win of the competition.

Zimbabwe’s will take a lot of confidence from this game as they attempt to challenge New Zealand in Ahmedabad this coming Friday. Canada meanwhile are in action a day earlier as they square off against an in-form Pakistan line-up and will only pray that they do not get another mauling.

Teams:

Zimbabwe:·Brendan Taylor, Charles Coventry, Tatenda Taibu, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Elton Chigumbura, Greg Lamb, Ray Price, Prosper Utseya, Graeme Cremer, Chris Mpofu.

Canada:·Nitish Kumar, John Davison, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Ashish Bagai (c & wk), Jimmy Hansra, Rizwan Cheema, Zubin Surkari, Tyson Gordon, Khurram Chohan, Harvir Baidwan, Balaji Rao

Mini Scorecard:

Zimbabwe 298/9 (50 overs, 5.96rpo)
Tatenda Taibu 98(99) Balaji Rao 4-57
Craig Ervine 85(81) Khurram Chohan 2-44

Canada 123 all out (42.1 overs, 2.92rpo)
Zubin Surkari 26(48) Ray Price 3-16
Ruvindu Gunasekera 24(64) Graeme Cremer 3-31

File Photograph Copyright: Zimbabwe Cricket