BY KEVIN MAPASURE HAVING staggered to victory in the first of five T-20s on Tuesday, the signs were there that Zimbabwe could lose some of the matches, if not the series against Namibia at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
And yesterday in front of a paltry crowd, the home side suffered an 8-wicket defeat in a performance that should have turned on the alarm bells, considering that the World Cup qualifiers are not too far away.
The series is tied at 1-all ahead of the last three matches tomorrow, Sunday and Tuesday.
The tourists opening batsman Craig Williams scored an unbeaten 62 off just 53 balls, in the process hitting four boundaries, while heaving one over the fence to help Namibia reach a victory target of 124 in 18 overs.
Namibia had a comfortable chase and never looked like they would fail to cross the line even though they lost Divan la Cock (9) and Gerhard Erasmus (36).
Milton Shumba bowled four overs without a wicket, while Tendai Chatara picked up one scalp at the expense of 17 runs.
This was after Zimbabwe won the toss and were stifled to just 123 runs in 20 overs.
Zimbabwe struggled with the bat from the onset losing Regis Chakabva (5) with just 10 runs on the board in the first over and it soon became 23 for 3 after Wessley Madhevere (7) and Craig Ervine (5) were sent packing.
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Sikandar Raza did not stick around long either, facing 16 balls for his 11 runs, with Tony Munyonga doing his bit to try and repair the damage scoring 23 runs from 21 balls, having replaced Tanaka Chavanga from the first match.
Milton Shumba scored one of only three sixes by Zimbabwe to reach 29 before he became Wiesse’s third victim, while Ryan Burl scored an unbeaten 16.
Zimbabwe hit the boundary on six occasions in their entire innings with Ruben Trummpelmann, in particular, strangling the home side.
He retained figures of 1 for 14 in his four overs, while Jan Frylinck had 2 for 17 from three overs.
Teams
Zimbabwe: Wessley Madhevere, Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabva, Craig Ervine, Sikandar Raza, Donald Tiripano, Milton Shumba, Tony Munyonga, Brandon Mavuta, Luke Jongwe, Tendai Chatara
Namibia: Divan la Cock, Craig Williams, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (c), David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Jan Frylinck, Pikky Ya France, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni
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