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‘And there goes Babar Azam’s WC career’ – Fans react as Zimbabwe bows out of 2023 ODI World Cup race

Scotland beat Zimbabwe by 31 runs and snatched the World Cup ticket from the home side.

Jul 5, 2023 3:24 pm

As the competition is getting stiff in ODI World Cup qualifiers for the 2023 ODI World Cup, Zimbabwe has suffered a major heartbreak and lost the chance of qualifying for the ODI World Cup. Scotland beat the home side by 31 runs and knocked Zimbabwe out of a potential spot in the big tournament later this year. Despite being one of the most competitive teams in the tournament with a lot of brilliant individual performances, Zimbabwe couldn’t qualify for the marquee tournament.

Opting to bowl first on a slow Bulawayo wicket, Zimbabwe bowled very well in the powerplay and middle overs. Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani didn’t give away easy runs at the start. In the middle overs, the spin duo of Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza choked Scotland with their wicket-taking and economical spells respectively. From 170/7 after 43.1 overs, Scotland reached a competitive total of 234/8 towards the end, thanks to the blistering cameos from Michael Leask and Mark Watt.

A sensational spell from Christopher Sole

Chasing the target of 235, Zimbabwe faced the heat of Christopher Sole, who was simply sensational with the new ball. The Scottish pacer had an average pace of over 145kmph in the powerplay overs and consistently troubled the batters with his swing bowling at an extreme pace. Zimbabwe was reduced to 37/4 in 8 overs. In the process, Zimbabwe lost two of their most experienced batters, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams, the latter being the best batter of the tournament.

Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, and Wesley Madhevere tried their best to win the game for Zimbabwe. At one stage, Zimbabwe was ahead in the game when Ryan Burl and Madhevere had a good partnership for the sixth wicket. But Madhevere’s wicket began the collapse for Zimbabwe. The home side lost their last 5 wickets for just 39 runs, the phase where Scotland exactly got the extra bit of runs and the momentum towards the end of their innings. The game between Scotland and The Netherlands would decide the second entrants for the ODI World Cup.