Canada crushed by Zimbabwe

Taibu and Ervine star during 175-run victory in Nagpur

Last updated: 28th February 2011  

Balaji Rao Canada

Rao's four wickets were of little help to Canada

tatenda taibu zimbabwe canada world cup nagpur

Taibu was two runs short of a century

Tatenda Taibu Graeme Cremer Zimbabwe

Taibu (left) and Cremer: two stand-outs for Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwe claimed their first win of the World Cup after sending Canada crashing to a 175-run defeat in Nagpur.

A third-wicket stand of 181 between Tatenda Taibu (98) and Craig Ervine (85) helped Zimbabwe to set their opponents a demanding target of 299 in the Group A clash.

Canada lost all 10 wickets to spin during their chase, with Ray Price and Graeme Cremer claiming three each and Prosper Utseya and Greg Lamb chipping in with two apiece.

Zimbabwe dismissed the minnows for just 123 with eight overs remaining with Canada's only bright spot being Balaji Rao's four wickets.

Canada did make a promising start as Khurram Chohan trapped Brendan Taylor lbw with the first ball of the match, while Charles Coventry's dismissal for four reduced Zimbabwe to 7-2.

However, Taibu and Ervine would turn things around, with the former making a 46-ball 50 as Zimbabwe cruised through the middle overs.

Ervine smashed six fours and cleared the ropes twice before he was caught behind on 85, while Taibu was caught by John Davison when just two short of a century. Rao (4-57) claimed both wickets.

Platform

The platform was already set for the rest of the order, though, with Sean Williams (30), Utseya (22) and Cremer (26) adding to the total with useful knocks.

Canada would also lose early wickets as Davison was bowled by Price (3-16) for a duck in the second over.

The left-arm spinner claimed two more scalps in the sixth, taking a return catch from Nitish Kumar (one) - the youngest World Cup player to date - and having skipper Ashish Bagai caught behind the stumps for a golden duck.

Canada were reeling on 7-3, but Jimmy Hansra (20) and Ruvindu Gunasekera (24) steadied the ship somewhat with a 43-run stand for the fourth wicket.

But when they departed in successive overs - Hansra being stumped off an Utseya delivery and Gunasekera bowled by Lamb (2-29) - the contest was effectively over.

Rizwan Cheema brought up his 14 exclusively in boundaries but would also fall to Utseya (2-24), while Chohan followed him shortly after for eight.

Zubin Surkari would finish as the top-scorer with 26 off 48 balls but his small amount of resistance only delayed the inevitable.

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Comments (1)

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John Mccormack says...

A great win for Zim. In parts, it does look like zimbabwean cricket is on the up again. Hopefully wins like these will crank up the confidence for the lads.

Posted 18:18 28th February 2011
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