The Zimbabwe Lady Chevrons sealed the One Day International against Papua New Guinea when they cruised to a two-wicket victory over the Oceanias in a low-scoring encounter at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
The win gives the recently christened "Golden Girls" an unassailable two-nil lead in the three-match series that wraps up tomorrow before moving to the T20 format.
Papua New Guinea's visit is part of Zimbabwe's preparations for the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifiers scheduled for April 25-May 7 in the United Arab Emirates.
There, 10 teams from the regional qualifiers will slug it out for the remaining two slots for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup.
These include Thailand, United Arab Emirates (Asia), Vanuatu (East Asia-Pacific), United States of America (Americas), Netherlands, Scotland (Europe), Uganda, Zimbabwe (Africa), Ireland and Sri Lanka (2023 T20 World Cup).
Lady Chevrons' coach Walter Chawaguta is likely to have a smile on his face as a number of his senior players look to be taking turns to put in match-winning performances.
Of all the players that have put their hands up, Modester Mupachikwa stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Fresh off her memorable African Games heroics, the 27-year-old top-order batting was at it again as she led her team to victory courtesy of a defiant and well-deserved half-century.
Zimbabwe skipper Mary-Anne Musonda won the toss and elected to send the visitors in to bat after which Josephine Nkomo and Francisca Chipare's three-wicket hauls saw the Oceanias bundled out for 125.
Only six PNG batters managed to reach double-digit figures with Pauke Siaka top-scoring for the visitors with 28 runs off 51 balls.
There were five other handy contributions from opener Naoani Vare (16 runs off 37 balls), Tanya Ruma (15 runs off 37 balls), Kevau Frank (10 runs off 26 balls), and Henao Thomas (11 runs off 20 balls).
Unfortunately, none of the contributions were meaningful as Zimbabwe's bowlers kept the Papua New Guinea bat-ting line-up in check throughout their innings.
Nkomo and Chipare were the picks of the Zimbabwe bowlers as the duo finished with figures of three wickets for 18 runs and three for 15 runs respectively.
Kudzai Chigora and Loryn Phiri chipped in with two wickets for 20 runs and one for 27 runs.
Zimbabwe was, however, made to sweat during the chase as there too also fell victim to the Papua New Guinea bowlers.
Mupachikwa's 57 runs off 107 balls ended up being the difference-maker.
She opened up the batting with youngster Kelis Ndhlovu with the pair putting up just 21 runs for the first wicket which was the latter being trapped leg-before-wicket by Sibona Jimmy for eight runs.
Player-of-the-Match Mupachikwa watched haplessly as she lost partners at regular intervals with the likes of Pellagia Mujaji (5), skipper Musonda (19), Nkomo (0), Chiedza Dururu (0) and Nyasha Gwanzura falling cheaply.
Much like their opponents, Zimbabwe had only three batters reaching double digits figures, namely Musonda (19), Phiri (12), and, of course, Mupachikwa (57).
Speaking after the match, the 27-year-old revealed that she, at times during her unbeaten innings, felt the pressure as wickets tumbled at the other end.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"I felt a lot of pressure towards the end as we were losing wickets, but I kept talking to my batting partners about the need to stick to the processes that we discussed in the changing room," said Mupachikwa.
"We tried to implement the game plan and get a run where there is a run and avoid taking risks," she said.
Mupachikwa is currently in quite a rich vein of form as she returned from the African Games with two Player-of-the-Match awards, finished as the tournament's top batter, and became the first Zimbabwean to score 1000 runs albeit in the T20 format.
"I think it's most the thought process," said on the secret to her current form.
"You have to have a good mindset, there is where it all starts and, before every match, I remind myself that I have a role to play and then try to bat out the innings," she said.
