By Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe’s senior men’s cricket team staged a disappointing performance against Afghanistan on Wednesday losing by 53 runs in the opening game of the three-match series played at Harare Sports Club.
The defeat came on the back of a convincing one-off Test match win against the same opponents at the same venue.
The Chevrons’ poor performance with the bat was the biggest setback as they failed to chase Afghanistan’s 180 runs posted in the first innings.
Zimbabwe’s best bowler during the first innings was Sikandar Raza, who took 3 wickets, as Afghanistan’s batters ran riot against his teammates, only to lose 6 wickets in 20 overs.
Raza could not complete a top performance in the match as he was one of the least performers in the second innings, managing only one run.
The Chevrons’ captain was one of the four top-order batsmen who failed to post more than two runs, the other three being Brandon Taylor, Ryan Burl, and Tadiwanashe Marumani, who were all dismissed with zero runs.
Zimbabwe’s highest scorer in the match was Tinotenda Maphosa, who posted 32 runs, eight more runs than Brian Bennett, who was the second-highest scorer with 24.
Altogether, the Chevrons were bowled out for 127 runs in 16.1 overs, thus losing the match by 53 runs.
The two sides will play their second T20 match on Friday, the 31st of October, before completing the series on Sunday, the 2nd of November, at the same venue.
