ZIMBABWE avenged their loss against Uganda at last year’s Qualifier, beating the Cranes by five wickets in their opening match of the ICC Men’s Africa T20I Qualifier played at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
Uganda beat Zimbabwe in the group stages at the last Qualifier hosted by Namibia, effectively costing the locals a place in the Africa Qualifier final and subsequently missing out on a ticket to the World Cup.
Uganda, one of the Africa representatives at the 2024 T20I World Cup co-hosted by the West Indies and the USA, won the toss and elected to bat first.
However, their total fell far short of a winning target, despite ending their innings on 152/9.
Sumeet Verma led the charge with the bat, scoring 45 off 32 balls.
Ugandan captain Riazat Ali weighed in with 35, and opener Rangav Dhawan piled up 29 at the top of the order.
Zimbabwe seamers led the onslaught, with Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans taking three wickets each.
Muzarabani finished with three for 20 from four overs, while Evans achieved his feat for 19 runs from three overs.
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Another speed merchant, Richard Ngarava, picked two wickets, while skipper Sikandar Raza claimed one scalp.
In response, Zimbabwe lost opener Tadiwanashe Marumani for six runs in the third over, with the hosts on 34.
Man of the match Brian Bennett scored a half-century, top-scoring with 72 runs off 44 balls, hammering nine boundaries and three sixes.
Brendan Taylor played an anchor role, effortlessly getting boundaries when he needed to and quick singles off textbook shots before falling 11 runs short of a deserved half-century.
He was caught at the long off boundary for 39 off 27 balls.
Skipper Raza scored 24, leaving Tashinga Musekiwa eight not out and Tony Munyonga unbeaten on three to wrap up the match as a contest inside 17.3 overs.
Musekiwa dispatched a Henry Ssenyondo delivery for six as he wrapped up the match in style.
Zimbabwe scored 157/5, taking off on a winning note in their campaign.
Uganda’s Miyaji Juma picked two wickets for 42 runs from his four-over spell, while the trio of Cosmas Kyewuta, Joseph Baguma and Ssenyondo took a wicket each.
Zimbabwe are back in action tomorrow afternoon against Botswana in their second match of the tournament.
In other matches Nigeria beat Malawi by 9 wickets at Takashinga, while Namibia hammered Kenya by 136 runs.
Tanzania also beat Botswana by seven wickets.
