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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
AWAY from the glare of the world who are busy focusing on the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Nations Cup which begin today in Egypt, the Zimbabwe cricket team conspired to disappoint when they lost the first One Day International to minnows Netherlands by seven wickets on Wednesday.

The Zimbabweans, who many have believed should have been part of the cast at the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament currently underway in England, played badly on their return to the pitch after two months of inactivity.

This was the first of a two-match ODI series in this fleeting tour. Today the rusty Chevrons need to pick up the pieces and bounce back when they play the second and final match of the series.

Lalchand Rajput’s men need to fight for their honour. They were completely dominated by the Associate Member on Wednesday when they chose to bat and put up a poor performance.

Brendan Taylor made a classy half century, but it all came to naught as there was no one to support his efforts in this rain-interrupted match.

Taylor made 71 runs off 85 deliveries.
Zimbabwe, however, could not trouble the hosts as wickets continued to fall around him.
Kyle Jarvis was the second highest scorer with 32 runs as the tourists managed 205/8.

The contest, which was reduced to 47 overs for each side due to rain, saw the Dutch overhaul the target set by Zimbabwe with seven wickets and 26 balls to spare.

Netherlands’ opening batsman Max O’Dowd sizzled with the bat and made an unbeaten 82 off 116 balls on their way to 2017/3 in 42.5 overs.