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Mehluli Sibanda :Senior Sports Reporter

A SENSATIONAL bowling show made up for a dismal batting performance as Zimbabwe’s Chevrons staged one of the greatest comeback stories in ODI history at Harare Sports Club yesterday to beat Afghanistan in a thriller and keep alive the series.It was a record-breaking triumph for Zimbabwe as that marked the lowest ever ODI score they have defended to win a match after the 134 they managed to hold off to conquer England by nine runs at the 1992 World Cup at Albury.

Yesterday’s triumph means Zimbabwe have an opportunity to win the series if they win in the next two matches on Friday and Sunday.

With the series at stake, seamers Tendai Chatara, Christopher Mpofu and left-arm spinner Sean Williams combined to wipe up Afghanistan for 126 in 29.3 overs.

Mpofu and Williams’ wickets turned things around with the latter picking up the final wicket.

This was after Zimbabwe had put up a shambolic show with the bat to be cleaned up for 129 in 32.2 overs.

Tarisai Musakanda, in at number three, top scored with a career-best 64 putting on 81 runs for the sixth wicket with Malcolm Waller who was unbeaten on 36.

Afghanistan coach Lalchand Rajput described the defeat as a wake-up call for his team because of poor stroke selection.

“I think that is what cricket teaches you because you cannot take it likely, we played some bad shots today “I think the batsmen know that it’s a good wake-up call for us because the way we were going we were cruising, some loose shots, I must give credit to Zimbabwe they came back strongly they never let the game till the last wicket.

“I thought the shot selection was not proper,’’ said Rajput.

The Afghanistan coach has every reason to be disappointed because such a score should have been chased down with ease.

Afghanistan lost their last five wickets for the same number of runs.

Zimbabwe never recovered from losing openers, Solomon Mire and Peter Moor, cheaply. It was carnage all round and the fact that the nine extras were the fourth highest contributor for the Zimbabwean runs shows how wretched the batting was. Musakanda and Waller brought some stability to the Zimbabwean innings with a sixth wicket stand.

Requiring just 2.6 runs per over, Afghanistan had Noor Ali Zadran removed by Richard Ngarava for a first ball duck, Cremer with a one-handed catch.

Shahzad smashed 20 from 17 balls until he played a big shot off Chatara, Musakanda with the superb catch at deep mid-wicket.

Rahmat Shah became the third Afghanistan batsman to go, Chatara with his second, Mire the fielder at point. By the time the lunch break was taken, Afghanistan were on 63 for three in 13 overs, still needing 67 runs with seven wickets in hand.

Chatara picked up his third wicket, Asghar Stanikzai caught behind by Moor for 31 runs.

Afghanistan went on to lose five quick wickets of Gulbadin Naib, Samiullah Shenwari, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan as it all fell apart for them.

Amir Hamza squeezed through two runs off Williams, but the bowler had the last laugh, Ngarava with the catch to spark wild scenes of celebrations. Williams and Chatara shared the man-of-the-match award for their bowling display.

Scores

Zimbabwe: 129 all out 32.4 overs (Musakanda 64, Waller 36*, (Naib 4/27, Khan 3/29) beat

Afghanistan: 126 all out 29.3 overs (Stankzai 34, Shinwari 29, Williams 3/15, Chatara 3/30) by three runs