‘Comprehensive win’ – Twitter erupts as Australia trounce Zimbabwe in the first ODI by five wickets
Strong performances from David Warner, Steve Smith, Glen Maxwell and Cameron Green powered Australia to take a massive 1-0 lead against Zimbabwe
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Aug 28, 2022 2:38 pm
Zimbabwe tour of Australia (Image source- Twitter)
Zimbabwe lost the ODI series to India and got whitewashed despite giving a tough fight in the last ODI. With the team’s morale at an all-time low, they have now toured Australia for a three-match ODI series and the first match happened on Sunday (August 28) with Australia coming in as favourites to clinch the lead. The Aussie skipper Aaron Finch backed the team’s core strength and went on with David Warner, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, and the rest for the game.
With the 20-20 World Champions coming in as favourites, the skipper Aaron Finch justified it by winning the toss and electing to field first at Townsville, the ground known for its balanced surface that favours both batting and bowling. With not much win under their win except for the series against Bangladesh, the red team’s openers Innocent Kaia and Tadiwanashe Marumani jogged into the green field.
The veteran Mitchell Starc and the budding pace star Josh Hazlewood’s presence might have shaken the openers, but they held on to it as it forced skipper Finch to bring in Mitchell Marsh in the seventh over of the innings. The gamble worked as the allrounder removed Kaia but a steady partnership between Marumani and Wesley Madhevere followed the hiccup and continued until the star spinner Adam Zampa removed the former.
The spinner looked in form as he ended up bagging three wickets in his spell and worked well on putting pressure on the Zimbabwe batters. However, Cameron Green, the aspiring superstar, turned out to be the stand-out performer for the team. He bagged a five-for to restrict Zimbabwe to 200 with almost fifteen balls to spare. Australian openers Aaron Finch and David Warner walked in confidently on the back of the stupendous performances from their bowlers.
The Baggy Greens top order batter Steve Smith looked confident as always and saved the team from the trap after losing their skipper early. The southpaw and the legendary right-hander started rotating strikes with the former finding gaps to clinch boundaries to keep the scoreboard on par with the required run rate. The star of the Bangladesh series, Sikandar Raza removed the southpaw and two quick wickets forced Glenn Maxwell to come in at five down earlier than expected. The allrounder did not take much time to clinch the win as he managed to smash three sixes and three fours of the nine balls that he faced to allow Australia to take a 1-0 lead in the first ODI against Zimbabwe.
Let’s take a look at some of the tweets that the fans from both nations came up with post-match:
One thing about Team Australia is that they did their homework around this Zim team. The commentators too! From ball 1. Info on a newcomer like Kaia to a veteran like Raza. They know their stuff! Perks of watching Aus play is the quality of commentary and the insights 👏#AusVsZim
