Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Lawrence Moyo
13 September 2007
Cape Town — Brendan Tylor was the hero as Zimbabwe caused the biggest upset in cricket history when they beat pre-tournament favourites Australia by five wickets in their opening match of the 2007 International Cricket Council Twenty20 World Cup at the Sahara Park, Newlands, last night.
Taylor finished with an unbeaten 60 off 45 balls as Zimbabwe made 139/5 in 19,5 overs in reply to Australia's 138/9 in 20 overs on a historic night, a result that will always be remembered as the story of the inaugural Twenty20 tournament.
His two fours in the last over, the second being the winning runs, gave Zimbabwe a spectacular victory and made Taylor the man of the match.
Unfortunately, a dubious fixture schedule means that Zimbabwe will be back in action at 2pm today against England. Australia captain Ricky Ponting made it clear that the result was a huge embarrassment for his team as he struggled to come to terms with the outcome moments after the game while Zimbabweans looked back at the 1983 ICC World Cup in England when they stunned the Aussies by 13 runs.
That remained Zimbabwe's only win over Australia in all forms of cricket until last night and the fact that the 1983 squad had veterans like Duncan Fletcher, Iain Butchart, Dave Houghton and John Traicos while yesterday's team was full of novices, hence all pre-match predictions hinted at an easy win for Ponting's men.
"We've been outplayed," said Ponting, who described his team's batting as diabolical while conceding that they went in the match expecting an easy evening.
"It's a mental thing for us -- we've got to start respecting the game a bit more," he added. Dismissed as hopeless contenders in a group that includes the world one-day champions Australia and England, the pioneers of the 20-overs game, Zimbabwe now stand a strong chance of reaching the Super Eight.
Zimbabwe meet England in their final opening round match at the same venue this afternoon and whatever the result, they will now wait for the outcome of Saturday's clash between the English and the Aussies which will determine who progresses from the group.
But one commentator noted that now everyone knew why the Australian national side was banned by its government from coming to Zimbabwe for a one-day international series this month. A day after newly-appointed coach Robin Brown declared that his mission was to change Zimbabwe's approach from being competitive losers to competitive winners, they did just that with an outstanding all-round performance.
They fielded brilliantly and restricted Australia - who had won the toss and elected to bat - to just 138/9 and they then batted like veterans to get the required runs with a ball remaining against a world-class attack. Set a modest target of 139, Zimbabwe got off to a good start and openers Vusi Sibanda and Taylor looked solid as they negotiated the opening three overs without taking any risks although Sibanda hit successive cover drives off Brett Lee, one of the most feared pace bowlers in the world.
Sibanda probably got carried away and was dismissed the next over as he now looked for a second straight four off Nathan Brackan -- this time he could only edge to the keeper to depart for 23, leaving Zimbabwe on 31/1.
Chamunorwa Chibhabha came at number three and blasted his way to 15 off 14 balls, including two arrogant straight drives, but he fell into the trap that got Sibanda out as he skied Stuart Clarke for wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist to complete an easy catch.
When Tatenda Taibu fell for a duck after facing six hostile deliveries, Zimbabwe were now feeling the pressure on 55/3 as they were even trailing the Aussies on the Duckworth Lewis calculations with light showers forcing the groundsmen onto their feet.
Stuart Matsikenyeri barely lasted and was dismissed the same way as Chibhabha after making just three runs from seven balls and at that stage Zimbabwe no longer wished for rain having been reduced to 70/4 with the permutations showing that they were now five runs behind.
The rain got heavier and when play was stopped with the score on 74/4 after 11,5 overs, Zimbabwe needed to be on 79/4 to tie the match and 80/4 to be declared winners under the Duckworth Lewis method of calculating rain-affected matches. Fortunately, the stoppage was brief, no overs were lost and it meant that they were going to bat the whole 20 overs, barring another rain interruption.
This took pressure off the Zimbabwe batsmen and put the pre-tournament favourites under immense pressure to get the remaining six Zimbabwe batsmen or restrict them from getting the required runs. Hamilton Masakadza and Taylor seemed to have used the rain break to take advice from coach Brown - who insists on the batsmen getting runs without taking risks - as they waited for bad ball to get the runs although they seemed to restrict themselves to just singles when two were there for taking.
Taylor reached a deserved 50 off just 38 balls - he hit three fours and two sixes - and became the first Zimbabwean batsman to score a half century in Twenty20 cricket. There was still a lot of work to be done when man-of-the-match Taylor and new batsman Elton Chigumbura - who finished with four from three balls - went for the final over, bowled by Nathan Bracken, needing 12 runs to win the match. It got off to a perfect start as Taylor swept Bracken down leg for four and reduced the target to eight runs from five balls and a single off the next ball left the game equally balanced with seven needed from four.
Chigumbura forced two from the third delivery and suddenly Zimbabwe were sensing victory as the target was now five from three while a single off the next left the requirement at four from two.
Surely the winning runs had to involve Taylor and he just deflected Bracken's fifth delivery past fine leg for four to spark wild celebrations in the crowd of just under 7 000 spectators. Zimbabwe had won the hearts of the crowd for their commitment in all departments and it was no surprise that virtually everyone waited for their chance to congratulate the victorious players who went on a victory lap. The electronic scoreboard stayed with the message "Congratulations Zimbabwe" for the night.
Earlier in the evening, Australia won the toss and captain Ponting elected to bat but hopes of an explosive start evaporated as Zimbabwe all-rounder Chigumbura, who seems to enjoy playing against the Aussies, got rid of openers Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist in successive overs as they both fell for four runs.
It became 19/3 when Gary Brent claimed the scalp of Ponting, no doubt another prized wicket, before all-rounder Andrew Symonds and Michael Hussey went on a repair job. But just when they thought they were rebuilding the Australia innings, a 29-run partnership for the fourth wicket was ended with Sibanda's brilliant run out of Hussey, who at that stage had been the innings' top scorer with 15 runs.
Hussey found himself troubled by a delivery from Chibhabha and with the bowler appealing for leg before wicket, the on-strike batsman tried to go for a quick single as Symonds had already taken off from the non-striker's end.
Meanwhile, Sibanda's diving throw was accurate and, as is always the case with direct hits, Hussey fell short and the brakes were on again as the Aussies were reduced to 48/4 in the 10th over.
Symonds and Brad Hodge added 38 runs, which later turned out to be the highest partnership for the Aussie innings, for the fifth wicket and just when they looked set to accelerate, Zimbabwe struck again at regular intervals to contain the Australian batsmen.
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