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Sean Williams continued his brilliant run with the willow, clobbering 142 off 103 balls as Zimbabwe beat a spirited Oman by 14 runs in the first Super Six match of the ICC World Cup 2023 Qualifiers at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Thursday.
Asked to bat first after losing the toss, Zimbabwe put up an imposing 332/7 on the board. In reply, Oman opener Kashyap Prajapati (103 off 97) struck a valiant hundred. However, his effort went in vain as Oman were held to 318/9.
Zimbabwe got off to a decent start with the bat as their openers added 46 in 11.4 overs. The stand was broken when Craig Ervine (25) was cleaned up by Kaleemullah. Joylord Gumbie (21) fell in the next over, caught behind off Fayyaz Butt as he attempted an uppercut.
The rest of Zimbabwe’s innings was about some dazzling stroke play from Williams, with some good support acts from the other batters. Williams added 102 for the fourth wicket with Sikandar Raza (42 off 49), while Luke Jongwe chipped in with an unbeaten 43 off 28 balls.
Williams struck 14 fours and three sixes in his excellent innings. He eased into the 90s by whacking Mohammad Nadeem for a six and a four in the 34th over. The left-hander brought up his third ton of the tournament, and second in successive games, by pulling Bilal Khan to deep square leg for a single. With two more fours off the same bowler in the next over, he completed 500 runs in the World Cup 2023 Qualifiers.
Williams’ stupendous knock ended in the 45th over when he holed out while trying to take on Butt (4/79). Jongwe and Richard Ngarava (11* off 4) then ensured Zimbabwe crossed 330.
Prajapati gives Zimbabwe a scare
Chasing 333, Oman put up a spirited fight as opener Prajapati scored a wonderful hundred. Even as Prajapati got off to a flying start, smashing five fours in the first four overs, Blessing Muzarabani struck at the other end, trapping Jatinder Singh lbw for 2.
Prajapati then added 83 for the second wicket with Aqib Ilyas (45 off 61). The defiant stand was broken by the golden arm of Raza as Ilyas nicked one to the keeper. Prajapati kept finding the boundaries at regular intervals and found another able partner in Zeeshan Maqsood (37 off 40). The opener brought up a fine hundred by nudging Raza to the offside for a single.
Oman’s hopes of an upset, however, suffered a body blow as Prajapati fell to a superb catch by Raza after mistiming a big hit off Muzarabani.
To their credit, Oman kept fighting as Ayaan Khan (47 off 43) and Mohammad Nadeem (30 off 18) chipped in with impressive cameos. In the end, though, they paid the price for conceding a few too many with the ball.
