NEP vs ZIM Today's Match Expert Fantasy Tips & Player Stats, ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers

1st ODI • Harare Sports Club • Harare

Nepal

290/8 (50)

Zimbabwe

291/2 (44.1)

ZIM won by 8 wickets

Info

Fantasy

Live

Scorecard

Playing XI

Table

Playing XILineups Out

Fantasy Top Picks

Expert Team 1

S Raza

S Williams

Expert Team 2

S Raza

S Williams

Venue Details

Harare Sports Club

PitchFast & Bounce

Pace BowlingAverage

Batting ConditionLow Scoring

Spin BowlingAverage

1st Innings

222Avg Runs

9Avg Wkts

2nd Innings

189Avg Runs

6Avg Wkts

Team Form (Last 5 Matches, Most recent first)

Team Form (Last 5 Matches)

Zimbabwe

Nepal

Head To Head (Last 10 Matches)

ZIM

0- 0

NEP

Team Comparison (Last 10 Matches)

Matches Played

Matches Won

209

Average Score

179

276/10

Highest Score

310/6

100/2

Lowest Score

71/10

1 1 4 1 2 1

Over 42

Runs: 10

1 0 4 1 4 4

Over 43

Runs: 14

1 4 6 2 2 4

Over 44

Runs: 19

1lb

Over 45

Runs: 1

All Overs

Player of the Match Craig Ervine

121(128)

Player of the Series Sean Williams

Commentary

So, that is it from myself, Karthik Raj and my co-commentator, Pradeep as we wrap up the proceedings from this fixture. Do switch over to the coverage of the first Ashes Test or stay tuned for some Trinidad T10 Blast action in a bit. Until next time, it is a warm good-bye from us!

Craig Ervine (Zimbabwe skipper): We were trying to change the bowlers and find someone who can get a breakthrough. We didn't start well dropping a couple of catches which put us on the back-foot. But credit to the boys who came back strong. We were telling each other that if we restrict them to 280-290, it would be easily achievable. Thought there will be more movement up front but the conditions were good throughout the day. Credit to Nepal who put us under pressure for a fair bit of the innings. We were just trying to break it down to some blocks, over by over. (About Sean Williams) He batted really well which removed a lot of pressure on myself. Well played today, rest up and come back on Tuesday!

Rohit Paudel (Nepal skipper): We didn't bowl to our expectations especially during the middle overs. However, both Ervine and Williams batted really well. We thought anything around 280 or 300 would be good. But after we saw the wicket, realised that we were short. Last 10-15 games, we have been chasing very well. Having said that, both defending and chasing are equal for us. I think the boys did really well even today. They just need to keep the heads high!

Time for the Post-match Presentation!

Craig Ervine is the Player of the Match! Here's what he has to say: Ecstatic of course, we knew it was a decent wicket to bat on, just a case of giving ourself a chance and building a partnership. Try and bat deep was the idea. To be honest, I actually don't know, been really good got some runs and then starting like this, hopefully I can continue like this. As a team we wanted to dominate batting second, I'm a slower starter, that's been my nature throughout my career but trying to accelerate as we bat deep was the plan. I try and look all around the wicket, between 10 over and 40 over mark, five fielders outside the circle and there's always a boundary option, so just wanted to take that one calculated risk every now and then to pick up that boundary. We were staring down the barrel in the first innings, but our bowlers pulled things back and we thought 290 was below par.

MATCH OVER!

Zimbabwe won by eight wickets!

Nepal 290-8 (50)
Zimbabwe 291-2 (44.1)

Craig Ervine 121* (128) | Sean Williams 102* (70)

Sompal Kami 5.3-1-30-1 | Gulshan Jha 8-0-56-1

What a dominant performance from Zimbabwe to get their World Cup Qualifier campaign underway. A special performance from the veteran duo of Craig Ervine and Sean Williams who continue to perform at the highest level.

Zimbabwe were definitely challenged in the first-half as Nepal posted a decent total of 290-8. However, Zimbabwe came out positively with the opening duo of Joylord Gumbie and Ervine starting out with quite a few boundaries in the Powerplay. Gumbie had a reprieve early on but he was eventually trapped in front by Sompal Kami in the in the eighth over. From there on, Ervine stitched a steady partnership with Wesley Madhevere. Madhevere benefited from a drop catch at deep point off Gulshan Jha's bowling but he couldn't capitalize. Madhevere scored 32 off 38 balls before he Gulshan bounced him out.

At 127-2, the chase was in balance but Sean Williams came out with an aggressive mindset to take the pressure off Ervine. The Nepalese bowlers also offered plenty of boundary balls as the runs started to flow. The southpaw duo was especially lethal against the spinners employing both the conventional and reverse sweeps to great effect. While Ervine registered his century and continued to bat on, Williams made a late surge and reached the triple-figure mark off just 70 balls. In the end, a leg-bye was taken as Zimbabwe saw off the chase with 35 balls to spare!

44.1 Rohit Paudel to Craig Ervine, THAT'S IT! Zimbabwe thump Nepal in this first game of the qualifier! Drops it short, fired it into the batter. Ervine misses to whip as that thuds on the pad and they sneak in a leg-bye to seal the game. What a clinical win this from Zimbabwe, they've dominated with the bat through and through!

Happy scenes everywhere at the Harare Sports Club. What scenes these are. Sean Williams with a 70-ball hundred and Zimbabwe are just one run away from the victory

overs

290 /2 score

runs

Sean Williams *

102 (70)

Craig Ervine

121 (127)

Gulshan Kumar Jha

1 /56

43.6 Gulshan Jha to Sean Williams, FOUR! HUNDRED FOR WILLIAMS! Williams is pumped too, look what this means to him and the crowd has gone berserk again. Short and wide of off-stump, Williams slaps it away, through covers and finds the ropes.

43.5 Gulshan Jha to Sean Williams, length delivery on the off-stump, Williams swings across the line but doesn't get all of it. Falls well short of deep mid-wicket as they pick up another couple. Williams moves on to 98, can he get to his hundred too?

43.4 Gulshan Jha to Sean Williams, short and just outside the off-stump, Williams stood tall and slaps it to wide long off for another couple of runs.

43.3 Gulshan Jha to Sean Williams, SIX! BAM! Bangs in the short delivery, sits up nicely for Williams. Pulled it away and PUMMELS it just over the ropes for a maximum. Williams now moves on to 90's!

43.2 Gulshan Jha to Sean Williams, FOUR! SHOT! Williams wants to finish this in a hurry here. Short and wide of off-stump, Williams slaps it with disdain, mid-off doesn't even bother chasing it as it races to the fence for yet another boundary.

43.1 Gulshan Jha to Craig Ervine, length delivery on the off-stump, Ervine leans and chipped it down to long-on and picks up a single.

Gulshan Jha [7-0-37-1] is back into the attack

Sandeep Lamichhane is being swept away at Harare. What a dominant display of batting this has been from Sean Williams and Craig Ervine. Williams is on 84*. Can he get to his century?

overs

271 /2 score

runs

Sean Williams *

84 (65)

Craig Ervine

120 (126)

Sandeep Lamichhane

0 /77

42.6 Sandeep Lamichhane to Sean Williams, FOUR! SHOT! Magnificent striking from Williams again. Length delivery outside the off-stump, sits on one knee and crunches the sweep shot and there's no stopping that from the sweeper as he picks up another boundary.

42.5 Sandeep Lamichhane to Sean Williams, FOUR MORE! Both these batters are toying with Lamicchane here. Length delivery, angling down the leg-side. Williams reverse swept it down to deep third-man which goes one bounce into the fence for another boundary.