The holders Australia began their cup campaign as having not lost a game since 1996. They were up against Zimbabwe, a team who once had a good side but due to things outside their control have sunk a very long way.
Having said that, when Australia won and decided to bat first, I was expecting a score of well over 300. Zimbabwe bowled well, and Australia’s progress was very slow. After 13 overs their score was only 32-0 at a run rate of 2.46. It wasn’t until the 28th over that their run rate went above 4 an over. Taking 9 0off the last 10 overs saw them to a total of 262-6. Top scorers were Watson with 79 and Clarke with 58.
Zimbabwe kept up with the scoring rate and brought up their 100 in the 27th over which was the same as Australis did. The difference was that Australis had only lost 1 wicket and Zimbabwe had lost 6. From this point it was unlikely that they would make a successful chase to overhaul Australis and they were bowled out for 171 in the 47th over. Top scorers for Zimbabwe were Cremer with 37 and Williams with 28.
Best bowler for Australia was Mitchell Johnson, who has been erratic recently, with figures og 9.2-2-19-4. Tait and Krejza took two wickets each.
Next game : England v Netherlands
peterjfield 