Zimbabwe triumph in bowl-out

Zimbabwe needed a bowl-out to beat Canada after the two sides tied their quadrangular series clash in King City.

Zimbabwe triumphed 3-1 after Harvir Baidwan, Sunil Dhaniram and Abdool Samad missed for Canada, sparing the visitors' blushes.

But the hosts really should have won the game before that drama, as Zimbabwe needed a misfield from Dean Abzal on the boundary to get them level with Canada’s total of 135 for seven.

Zimbabwe were comfortable in their chase until Rizwan Cheema took two wickets in an over to leave them struggling on 34 for three, which became 61 for five.

Tatenda Taibu top scored in the match with 37 but Zimbabwe needed a bowl-out to defeat Canada

Buy this photo

Wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu and Elton Chigumbura staged something of a recovery with a 53-run partnership.

But Uganda-born seamer Henry Osinde removed Chigumbura (30 off 19 balls) and held catches in the deep to remove Timycen Maruma and Taibu (37 off 40) off the first two balls of the final over, bowled by Baidwan.

Azbal misfielded with Zimbabwe needing six to win off two balls and Prosper Utseya scrambled a leg-bye off the final ball to ensure they finished level with one wicket remaining.

Earlier, Canada’s innings had got off to a terrible start when Chigumbura bowled wicketkeeper Ashif Mulla first ball, and the hosts lost regular wickets thereafter.

Four Canada batsmen - Cheema, Mohammad Iqbal, Karun Jethi and Balaji Rao - passed 20, but none could make a sizeable contribution.

Utseya’s off-spin proved particularly effective as the Zimbabwe captain returned figures of 1-12 off four overs.