Zimbabwe got off to a winning start in the Super Six of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 in Bulawayo thanks to Sean Williams’ second century in a row, which was the driving force behind Zimbabwe’s triumph.
Williams maintained his strong vein of form throughout Zimbabwe’s opening match in Bulawayo, which resulted in a 14-run victory over Oman. This victory allowed Zimbabwe to carry over the momentum they shown in Group A.
Following a perfect performance throughout the group stages, the home team now has six points in the Super Six thanks to the fact that they were able to carry over their previous four points and earn two more at the Queens Sports Club.
Oman put up a valiant effort, and Kashyap Prajapati scored a century for them, but they were never quite able to keep up with the rate as they attempted to chase a target of 333.
Sean Williams has recorded three hundreds and a 91 in his five innings at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023, and he was at it again to beat Oman. Sean Williams’s performance helped Australia win.
following being asked into bat, Zimbabwe made 332 for seven following a stunning 142 off of 103 balls, which established the foundation for their eventual 14-run triumph.
Williams arrived to the crease with Zimbabwe’s score at 48 for two after the previous batsman, Zimbabwe’s skipper Craig Ervine (21), had been bowled by Kaleemullah (1/39), and Joylord Gumbie (25) had been dismissed shortly after by Fayyaz Butt (4/79).
Williams and Sikandar Raza (42) then added 112 for the fourth wicket to establish the groundwork for a massive total. The rebuilding process began with a partnership of 64 runs between Williams and Wessly Madhevere (23), and it was this stand that started the process.
Even though both set batters were dismissed by Fayyaz in addition to Ryan Burl (13) being trapped leg before, Zimbabwe were still in a strong position with 276 runs scored in six overs remained.
And some tremendous hitting from Luke Jongwe propelled them to an even greater total. He needed just 28 balls to slam an unbeaten 43, which was a knock that proved to be essential in the end.
From the very beginning of the game, Kashyap Prajapati batted with purpose, and he completely dominated the opening partnership of 29 runs, during which Jatinder Singh contributed only two.
Because of this, Aqib Ilyas was summoned to the crease, and together with Kashyap taking the lead, the two of them added 83 runs. Raza got Aqib caught behind for 45, and then he and Zeeshan Maqsood put on 44 runs together before the skipper had to retire hurt after injuring his hamstring while going for a sweep.
The needed run rate was increasing, thus it appeared as though Kashyap would have to bat till the conclusion of the innings. However, a spectacular catch by Raza off of Blessing Muzarabani ended his effort with 103 runs scored off of 97 balls.
This meant that Oman needed 142 runs from their remaining 15 overs, a job that became even more difficult when Richard Ngarava had Shoaib Khan caught and bowled for 11.
Ayaan Khan, however, was not willing to give up without a fight and hammered 47 runs off of only 43 deliveries before being caught in the deep by Muzarabani in the 45th over of the game.
The next batter, Kaleemullah, was then caught on the boundary by Jongwe with an effort at juggling in which he had to toss the ball into the air twice as he stepped over the rope in order to complete the spectacular catch.
Mohammad Nadeem (30*) gave it his all to lead Oman to a memorable victory, but by the time they required 29 runs off the last over, their race was almost gone. Despite his efforts, Oman did not win.
Oman’s highest One-Day International total was achieved when Zeeshan (37), who had returned, hit a six and a four off the penultimate over. Despite this, Oman fell short by 14 runs since Zeeshan was out on the final ball.