With the 6th game of this Tri-Series done, this New Zealand and Zimbabwe match officially sealed the deal for the tournament’s group stage. As New Zealand came out victorious, they remain without a loss and now are 4-0 going into to the finals match against South Africa. Although they didn’t have many key pieces during this Tri-Series, this group was able to replace them pretty easily and gave their younger plus newer core more of a chance.
As New Zealand’s win was by over 60 runs, it also showed that this unit still remains as dominant and have good leadership behind them. Captain Mitchell Santner has been a major factor in helping this team tactically and motivating them since they have had several changes in their last 12 months.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe took another loss and finished exactly opposite at 0-4, with a tournament to completely forget. A unit that was super hopeful that this series would get them back to prominence, it didn’t seem like that at all, with this being a tournament to forget. While many believed they would at least end on a very strong note since they had been eliminated two matches ago, this squad happened to have their worst performance of the tournament.
Now looking ahead, Zimbabwe will have 2-match Test Series with New Zealand and hope Sikandar Raza can help this unit perform better. But before all of that, which will occur a week later, and the finals still yet to be played, it’s first important to mention the key aspects of this match.
New Zealand: Batters Had Another Dominating Performance
As New Zealand demonstrated prowess in their batting once again, this group easily reached nearly 200 runs. Seeing that their depth really made a factor, they gave Zimbabwe’s bowlers a bit of trouble all day. With the top order consisting of Tim Robinson and Tim Seifert, they both got off to a quick start in early powerplay overs.
Although Robinson ended up getting out in an unfortunate way early on, he still launched a mammoth six and was starting to look like a threat. On the other end, Tim Seifert continued on with his innings and hit another half-century, while also hitting a combined 10 total boundaries. Someone who consistently launched balls into gaps, Tim Seifert was able to create a great partnership with left-handed Rachin Ravindra that went for 108 runs.
Rachin Ravindra managed to add 63 runs during that time and also maintained an impressive strike rate. As he himself smashed two sixes, his cover drive has become an even bigger factor in T20I matches for New Zealand. Delivering seven boundaries, it was clear that he was attacking with an intent to score runs and managed to find all open spaces around the ground. Helping his side reach 127/2, it gave Tim Seifert and the remaining middle-order crew an easier task to finish towards the end of this innings.
Although wickets started slowly tumbling after Rachin Ravindra, with Mark Chapman and Bevon Jacobs going for 0, Michael Bracewell took over afterwards. His 26-run knock towards the end helped this Black Caps side reach 190/6 after knocking two boundaries and a six in the last couple overs.
Zimbabwe: Pacers and Spinners Had Their Ups & Downs
Looking at Zimbabwe’s bowling attack today, their performance was filled with both highs and lows. Richard Ngarava had a terrific spell as this group’s leader today after picking four massive wickets and being one of the more economical pacers. Giving up a little over 8 runs, he was a limiting factor in this match that didn’t allow the Chevrons unit allow a score over 200+.
Richard Ngarava’s key moments came during the end of his group’s bowling innings, when Ngarava was able to take out Tim Seifert and even Bevon Jacobs before he became a threat. Another solid wicket-taker today that didn’t let this bowling performance get out of hand was Tinotenda Maposa, since he showed mighty improvement and was able to break the Rachin Ravindra-Tim Seifert partnership.
Taking two wickets in total, his economy was below 8.6 as well, and he had put together a solid string of dot balls today. Now for the bowlers that struggled today, one name that really popped out was Trevor Gwandu, as he has never shown to struggle this much. Although the right-handed pacer got his four overs to bowl, he went for a very high economy of over 12 and never seemed to hit the same line plus length.
Bringing up Sikanda Raza, even though his economy wasn’t super high today, he provided no real wicket-taking threat for this unit. It seemed like a lot of balls were missing the stumps, and it was easier for New Zealand batsmen to hit sweep shots or take him on by leaving their crease. To close out this full attack, Wellington Masakadza really had a tough time as a left-hand spinner since he kept missing his main point and allowed 11.50 runs per over.
Zimbabwe: Batting Unit Gets Completely Shattered Again
The struggles of this Zimbabwe batting unit have continued, with them ending up with less than 145 runs once again. A common trend during this tournament, the only real threats that showed up for this unit today were Tony Munyonga and Dion Myers. As Munyoga went for 40 runs, while smashing three sixes and crunching two, their usual consistent pieces like Brian Bennett didn’t show up.
With Brian Bennett getting out for one and having a tough time facing pace, Clive Mandade went for another score again. As Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl both scored a combined 14 runs, their other players, like Wellington Masakadza, were nowhere to be found as well. Tinotenda Maposa helped a little towards the end with 8 runs , but he couldn’t produce any boundaries and remained not-out when Trevor Gwandu couldn’t reach the line in time.
New Zealand: All-Around Bowling Attack Dismantles Zimbabwe
Holding Zimbabwe for 130 runs all out, this Black Caps unit really emerged with one of the best games they had this series. The star of the show was Ish Sodhi, as he was able to put together a 4-wicket haul and limit the number of runs. Just giving up 12 in his spell, he was a great factor that slowed down Zimbabwe after a very strong powerplay they had.
Ish Sodhi clean-bowled Clive Mandade with one of the most beautiful-looking deliveries and really had great turn on that specific ball. Someone who also ended a 21-run opening partnership by fooling Brian Bennett with an amazing ball that swung in, he was really this group’s major factor in bowling today.
Looking at the pacers, Zachary Foulkes really stands out after being one ball away from completing his spell, and also finished off this match by helping get Trevor Gwandu run out. Someone who also added a wicket earlier on, he had a very solid spell during the later part of Zimbabwe’s innings.
Will O’Rourke also had a terrific performance as he allowed fewer than 6.5 runs per over during his three overs in this match and also took out Tashinga Musieka so that the Chevrons wouldn’t create any later order drama. Although Mitchell Santner couldn’t produce a wicket and remained a bit expensive today, Michael Bracewell really rounded this attack well during his two economical overs.
Also Read: ZIM vs SA : Wiaan Mulder Reflects On His Unbeaten 367 After Conversation With Brian Lara