Zimbabwe Career - All Formats

[Joe Baldwin]

Zimbabwe vs Australia - T20i Series

Australia's tour of Zimbabwe finished with a two-match T20i series, and they maintained a full strength side. In all honesty, the series was a stinker for us - our batsmen totally flopped and we succumbed to two heavy defeats.

In the first T20i, Australia posted an impressive 179-3, with Warner and Cartwright making half-centuries. None of our bowlers were great, though Mumba was the best with 1-26. Chasing 180 against Hazlewood, Mennie, Starc, Faulkner and Hastings was never really going to happen, but we made absolutely sure of that with a sorry display. Malcolm Waller and Hamilton Masakadza were the only men to even reach double figures, and we slumped to a miserable 77 all out. Mennie (4-16) and Starc (3-14) did what was expected and sealed a 102 run victory.

Australia: 179-3 (Cartwright 67*, Warner 56; Mumba 1-26, Maruma 1-27)
Zimbabwe: 77 (Waller 22, Masakadza 18; Mennie 4-16, Starc 3-14)

We won the toss and elected to bat in the second T20i, but it didn't make the slightest bit of difference. Again we were bowled out by the Australian attack, though we did manage to make our innings last for one more ball, but our score of 102 wasn't competitive, and Australia chased the total with minimal fuss. David Warner excelled again, scoring 62 from 39 balls, and the visitors reached the target with 31 balls remaining.

Zimbabwe: 102 (Burl 23, Moor 15; Faulkner 4-17, Hastings 3-7)
Australia: 105-2 (Warner 62, Wade 22; Cremer 1-16, Maruma 1-19)

Australia won the Test series 2-0, the ODI series 2-1 and wrapped up the tour with an easy 2-0 victory in the T20 internationals.

The T20 World Cup qualifying group stage is next for us - we're in Group B, and have to come top of a group which includes Canada, Namibia and the USA in order to qualify for the Super 10 stage.

[Joe Baldwin]

T20 World Cup Qualifying

We'd been drawn in a World Cup Qualifying group with Canada, Namibia and the USA. Only the top team qualifies, and on paper that should be us, but as we all know the game isn't played on paper...

Canada were our first opponents, and we were able to restrict them to a chaseable 147-9. Sean Williams and Timycen Maruma picked up three wickets each. Our response was strong and measured. Peter Moor blasted a quick-fire 44 before being run out, but despite looking precarious at 62-3, an excellent fourth wicket partnership of 89 between Craig Ervine and Elton Chigumbura saw us home - the former managing a half-century.

Canada: 147-9 (Matterson 41, Walker 30*; Williams 3-21, Maruma 3-23)
Zimbabwe: 151-3 (Ervine 55*, Moor 44; Dwyer 1-12, Freeman 1-32)

Namibia were our second opponents, and they won the toss, inserting us into moderately difficult batting conditions. Hamilton Masakadza shone with the bat, making 82, and our total of 169-5 ought to have posed Namibia a few problems. However, I hadn't counted on our bowlers being absolutely woeful on the day. Graeme Cremer took 4-50 in a very erratic performance, while Chatara and Maruma were also expensive, and Namibia were able to comfortably reach the target with a 20 balls remaining - they would have easily reached 200 at the rate they were going! It was a comprehensive defeat in the end, and I was bitterly disappointed with the bowlers.

Zimbabwe: 169-5 (Masakadza 82, Chigumbura 41; Viljoen 2-26)
Namibia: 170-5 (van Vuuren 50, C. Williams 36; Cremer 4-50, Madziva 1-26)

Each team had won one and lost one going into the final round of the group, and we were third on net run rate. The USA were fourth, which meant that we needed a big win as one of the two teams in front of us would obviously be improving their net run rate, which is what it would come down to should we win.

Such a big game called for a big performance from the team, and while Madziva (2-26) can say he performed well with the ball, Maruma (2-42) was too expensive, despite taking a couple of wickets. Nevertheless, the American total of 160 was competitive, but chaseable. We suffered an absolutely nightmare start with the bat, falling to 13-4, but a fifth wicket stand of 96 between Sean Williams and Malcolm Waller brought us back into contention. Both made half-centuries, but once they departed, the runs were harder to come by and we fell 18 runs short of the target.

USA: 160-7 (Duckworth 45, Levy 37*; Madziva 2-26, Chatara 2-34)
Zimbabwe: 142-8 (Waller 57, Williams 51*; Chai 4-18, Coles 2-28)

This defeat meant we finished bottom of our qualifying group. Perhaps it was for the best - the way we've played in all our T20i's has been extremely disappointing so far, and we simply don't have the quality to compete with the destructiveness of the best players in the world. Namibia did have their day in the sun at the main tournament, beating Sri Lanka by eight wickets, but it was India who would go on to win the tournament.

Next up for us is our first away tour, in which we travel to Bangladesh. They're currently ranked 7th in Tests, 9th in ODI's and 9th in T20i's (we're 10th across the board). The tour consists of two Tests, three ODI's and two T20i's - the standard format for a low-ranked side such as ours, I think. I care most about Test cricket, so I see this as an opportunity to claim two points in the rankings by wiping the 3-0 away series defeat from the equation. If we can do so, and the West Indies fail to get anything from their home series with England in February 2019, we can leapfrog the Windies in the Test rankings!

[Joe Baldwin]

Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe - 1st Test - Dhaka

The first away tour of this career took us to Bangladesh, who are ranked 7th in the Test rankings. We had the opportunity to overtake the West Indies with a series victory, but it would be a tall order against a side who managed to draw a Test series 1-1 with Australia earlier in the season.

Bangladesh	Zimbabwe
Soumya Sarkar	Innocent Kaia
Tamim Iqbal	Cephas Zhuwao
Mosaddek Hossain	Ryan Burl
Mushfiqur Rahim (wk)	Peter Moor (wk)
Mominul Haque	Hamilton Masakadza (c)
Nasir Hossain	Craig Ervine
Mahmudullah Mahmudullah	Sean Williams
Taijul Islam	Neville Madziva
Rubel Hossain	Wellington Masakadza
Abu Jayed	Tendai Chatara
Mustafizur Rahman	Tafadza Muzarawetu

Conditions in Dhaka were absolutely perfect for batting, so when Bangladesh won the toss and made the obvious decision to bat first, I feared the worst. The weather forecast predicted glorious sunshine for all five days. I gave a debut to 34 year old Cephas Zhuwao, who was having an excellent domestic season, although it's not a selection with the future in mind - I'm simply trying to pick the best team for every game, and there are four players over 32 in the lineup.

I felt we'd need a couple of early wickets with the new ball, but the Bangladesh opening partnership played calmly and reached 61 without loss. However, the introduction of Wellington Masakadza proved to be an inspired choice, and he first removed Sarkar caught behind before dismissing the dangerous Mosaddek Hossain for just 4. Tamim Iqbal then fell victim to the left arm spinner, who trapped him LBW, and two quick wickets for Chatara saw Bangladesh slump to 127-6! A seventh wicket stand of 77 provided some sort of recovery, but I was absolutely delighted when we bowled Bangladesh out for just 241 on the first day. Wellington Masakadza was the star, taking career best figures of 7-98.

Conditions were still excellent, and having bowled so brilliantly on the first day, we now had a golden chance to put ourselves in a commanding position. We lost debutant Zhuwao late on day one for just 1, but an awesome 200 partnership between Kaia and Burl allowed us to take a vice-like grip on the Test match. Both made centuries, and contributions down the order built an enormous first innings lead. Sean Williams provided a spark, and despite batting with the tail, he attacked superbly and also managed a hundred - our third of the innings. After 169 overs at the crease we were finally bowled out for 489 - a lead of 248.

With such a huge lead on the third afternoon, I was almost certain we would win the Test, and when Chatara bowled Tamim Iqbal for a duck, I became even more confident. Indeed, at 17-2 I wondered if we might even manage to win by an innings! Bangladesh batted incredibly slowly, going at two an over throughout, but half-centuries from Mossadek Hossain and Mahmudullah, who made 86, put paid to the idea of an innings victory. Nevertheless, wonderful bowling from Chatara, who ended with identical figures to Masakadza in the first innings (7-98), restricted Bangladesh to 284.

Our target was a measly 37, but with the victory line firmly in our sights, the entire top order suffered a remarkable rush of blood to the head! Rubel Hossain trapped both Kaia and Zhuwao LBW and clean bowled Moor, and the red mist even extended to our most experienced players - Masakadza and Ervine both fell to Rahman, and incredibly, we were 18-5! However, Ryan Burl and Sean Williams held themselves together amidst all the drama, and they steadied the ship to seal a terrific five wicket victory.

Bangladesh 1st: 241 (N. Hossain 56, Iqbal 54; W. Masakadza 7-98, Chatara 2-35)
Zimbabwe 1st: 489 (Burl 135, Kaia 113; R. Hossain 7-130, Islam 2-164)
Bangladesh 2nd: 284 (Mahmudullah 86, M. Hossain 67; Chatara 7-98, Williams 1-18)
Zimbabwe 2nd: 40-5 (Williams 16*, Burl 12*; R. Hossain 3-17, Rahman 2-10)

ZIMBABWE WON BY 5 WICKETS

It was an absolutely excellent Test victory for us, the third of my time in charge. Burl once again gave an indication of just how good he is at Test level, while Wellington Masakadza picked up his fourth five-wicket haul of my tenure, in this my seventh Test. The result means that we can't lose the series, and all we have to do to overtake West Indies is avoid defeat in the second Test.

[Joe Baldwin]

Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe - 2nd Test - Chittagong

After our victory in the first Test, we had an opportunity to seal a series victory in Chittagong and climb off the bottom of the Test rankings. It wouldn't be easy, but with several players bang in form, we definitely had a chance.

Bangladesh	Zimbabwe
Soumya Sarkar	Innocent Kaia
Tamim Iqbal	Cephas Zhuwao
Mossadek Hossain	Ryan Burl
Mominul Haque	Peter Moor (wk)
Mushfiqur Rahim (wk)	Hamilton Masakadza (c)
Nasir Hossain	Craig Ervine
Mahmudullah Mahmudullah	Sean Williams
Taijul Islam	Neville Madziva
Rubel Hossain	Wellington Masakadza
Mustafizur Rahman	Tendai Chatara
Jubair Hossain	Tafadza Muzarawetu

We named an unchanged side to the one that claimed victory in Dhaka, but Bangladesh dropped Abu Jayed and replaced him with Jubair Hossain to bolster their spin bowling attack. Again, conditions and weather were perfect for batting, and again, Bangladesh won the toss, unsurprisingly electing to bat first.

Despite Muzarawetu removing Tamim Iqbal for 20, Bangladesh learned from their first Test struggles, and a second wicket stand of 114 put them in a commanding position. We managed to take three quick wickets as Bangladesh went from 168-1 to 171-4, but another century stand between Mushfiqur Rahim and Nasir Hossain pushed the score well above 300. The latter would complete a century, but we ran through the tail quickly and limited the damage to 371.

Our innings took a similar path. We lost Kaia for 18, but a succession of strong partnerships, led by another century for Ryan Burl and 92 for Peter Moor, laid the foundation for a respectable innings. Zhuwao made a maiden Test half-century as well, which was a positive note after failing on his debut. At one point we were looking extremely strong on 332-3, but in the end we needed Madziva's 27* to take us past Bangladesh's total - we made 390 to give us a narrow first-innings lead.

Sarkar and Iqbal began the Bangladesh second innings well, putting on 76 for the first wicket, but Madziva grabbed the bull by the horns in his second spell and obliterated the top order, single-handedly reducing them to 110-4. However, Nasir Hossain bailed the hosts out with another century, joining an elite club of players who've made a hundred in both innings of a Test, and having looked like we could bowl Bangladesh out for a very chaseable total, we let the game slip away slightly. Contributions down the order bumped their total up to 354, meaning we'd need 334 to win.

With an hour of day four remaining at this point, we certainly had enough time to score the runs, but by now the pitch was offering plenty of turn and I was expecting a difficult chase. While we scored at a decent rate, none of our top order could produce the runs we needed, and we found ourselves with our backs against the wall at 59-4. Craig Ervine and Sean Williams made 74 for the sixth wicket but it wasn't enough, and with the spinners taking eight of our wickets, we were bowled out for 238, 98 runs short of the target.

Bangladesh 1st: 371 (N. Hossain 106*, Sarkar 83; Madziva 4-78, W. Masakadza 3-102)
Zimbabwe 1st: 390 (Burl 111, Moor 92; J. Hossain 5-157, Rahman 2-50)
Bangladesh 2nd: 354 (N. Hossain 100, Rahim 46; Madziva 7-86, Muzarawetu 2-41)
Zimbabwe 2nd: 238 (Williams 70*, Ervine 62; Islam 5-73, J. Hossain 3-86)

BANGLADESH WON BY 97 RUNS

So the series was drawn, but that's one point gained in the rankings for us. We're still 10th, but we're level on 8 points with West Indies. Two centuries in the series for Ryan Burl has lifted him to 19th in the Test batting rankings, one point ahead of Younis Khan, while Wellington Masakadza is 23rd in the bowling rankings.

We're cut adrift at the bottom of the ODI rankings, with just three points, but having beaten Australia in our last ODI match I'm hopeful that we can improve. We lost 3-0 in our last ODI series in Bangladesh, and they sit 9th, so it's a chance to close the eight point gap to just four if we can win the series.

[Joe Baldwin]

Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe - ODI Series

The three-match ODI series gave us a chance to narrow the gap in the rankings between ourselves and 9th-placed Bangladesh. For the first match, I named an unchanged side from the one that beat Australia in our previous ODI outing.

Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bowl first, but we began reasonably well with the bat. Openers Moor and Musakanda made starts but couldn't kick on, and a strong 80-run partnership between Burl and Williams helped the team build a respectable score. Williams made a century, but in the death overs our lower order couldn't score quickly, and we ended up scoring 264-7. Bangladesh chased the total down with 27 balls remaining, courtesy of Sarkar (65) and Das (72*). Wellington Masakadza was very poor with the ball, taking 0-62 from eight overs, and while he was the worst of the bunch, that rather summed up our bowling efforts.

Zimbabwe: 264-7 (Williams 109, Moor 43; Hasan 3-58, Al Hasan 2-56)
Bangladesh: 265-4 (Das 72*, Sarkar 65; Chatara 2-46, Cremer 2-52)

Needing to win the match to keep the series alive, we won the toss and elected to bowl first. Some excellent economical bowling, especially from the spinners, allowed us to keep Bangladesh to just 250. Chatara was superb, taking four wickets, most of them late on, but the real stars were the spinners - Cremer took 1-46, Williams 1-43 and Raza, who replaced Wellington Masakadza for this match, went for 43 from his nine overs. Needing 251 to win - a very chaseable total - we lost Musakanda early, but Moor and Ervine made 162 for the second wicket and put us in a dominating position. Ervine made an unbeaten 108* and we successfully chased the total with 47 balls to go. It proved to be a comfortable victory, and we levelled the series!

Bangladesh: 250-9 (Iqbal 71, Rahim 59; Chatara 4-50, Waller 1-21)
Zimbabwe: 251-3 (Ervine 108*, Moor 86; Al Hasan 1-41, M. Hossain 1-69)

The series decider was essentially worth four points in the rankings to us. Could we clinch our first ODI series win?

We won the toss and again chose to bowl first. I'd picked three seamers (Chatara, Madziva and Nathan Waller) and three spinners (Cremer, Raza and Williams), and it was the seamers who took the game to Bangladesh. Despite some reasonable partnerships from the hosts' top order, including a 99-run second wicket stand between Sarkar and Mossadek Hossain, the seamers kept it tight. Each bowled their full ten overs, with Chatara (1-41) the most impressive. The spinners, however, were far too expensive, and Bangladesh were able to post 273-5 - 137 of which came from twenty overs of spin.

Our chase was electrifying. The batsmen attacked from the first ball, with Peter Moor leading the charge with 73 from 64 balls, and Burl (47 from 54) and Williams (61 from 55) picked up the baton and ran with it when given the opportunity. We didn't let any of the Bangladesh bowlers settle, and we managed to complete an excellent chase with 31 balls remaining. It was my first ODI series victory!

Bangladesh: 273-5 (Sarkar 86, M. Hossain 64; Cremer 3-63, Chatara 1-41)
Zimbabwe: 275-6 (Moor 73, Williams 61; Al Hasan 2-38, Jayed 2-53)

We've closed the gap to Bangladesh in the ODI rankings to just four points with an excellent away series victory. It's been a remarkable tour so far for us, by far my most successful across the board so far - can we keep it up on the two-match T20i series?

[Joe Baldwin]

Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe - T20 Series

Having drawn the Test series and won the ODI series, I was hopeful we'd be competitive in the T20 series as well. However, some expensive bowling cost us the first match - bowling first, we let Bangladesh post a commanding 178, despite the efforts of Cremer, who took 4-26 from his four overs. His excellent performance was sadly an exception. We never threatened the target, and once Masakadza departed for 52, we just couldn't find the boundary and succumbed to a 30-run defeat.

Bangladesh: 178-7 (Das 58, N. Hossain 44*; Cremer 4-26, Madziva 2-26)
Zimbabwe: 148-5 (H. Masakadza 52, Waller 38*; Al Hasan 3-28, Saha 2-20)

We bowled first again in the second T20 international, but this time we performed infinitely better with the ball. Madziva was outstanding, taking 4-25, while our defensive bowling as a whole was exceptional - we limited Bangladesh to just 132, and even in overcast conditions, I expected us to be able to reach that. At 66-4 I was nervous we'd waste an excellent opportunity to win the game, but Sean Williams and Malcolm Waller combined to build a 70-run partnership which put us on the verge of victory.

Needing seven from the final over, the pair struck five singles before Williams blasted a boundary from the final ball to seal an exciting win! We'd levelled the series 1-1, and we came away from our first away tour having managed to avoid any series defeat!

Bangladesh: 132-6 (M. Hossain 37, N. Hossain 31; Madziva 4-25, W. Masakadza 2-22)
Zimbabwe: 136-4 (Williams 45*, Waller 33*; Al Hasan 3-23, Rahman 1-25)

Our excellent tour of Bangladesh came to a successful end. We leave on the verge of overtaking West Indies in the Test rankings, but next up we have the mighty South Africa, which you'd expect to be as great a test of our ability as there'll be.

[Joe Baldwin]

South Africa vs Zimbabwe - 1st Test - Johannesburg

We'd generated some positive momentum in Bangladesh, but South Africa promised to be an incredibly stern test, especially in the two-Test series at the start of the tour. South Africa took nothing for granted, as you can see from the lineups:

South Africa	Zimbabwe
Aiden Markram	Innocent Kaia
Dean Elgar	Tendai Maruma
Quinton de Kock (wk)	Ryan Burl
AB de Villiers	Peter Moor
Hashim Amla	Hamilton Masakadza
Francois du Plessis	Craig Ervine
Temba Bavuma	Sean Williams
Dwaine Pretorius	Neville Madziva
Vernon Philander	Wellington Masakadza
Kagiso Rabada	Tendai Chatara
Dale Steyn	Tafadza Muzarawetu

South Africa won the toss in Johannesburg and elected to bat first on a pitch which looked extremely good for batting. The only place in the eleven that I wasn't sure on was the number two spot, and this time I went for Tendai Maruma - a gamble considering his Test average was just 19 going into the series.

We made a fortuitous breakthrough in the first session when Dean Elgar ran himself out pushing for a risky two, but aside from that, South Africa were very comfortable in the morning session. After lunch, we were absolutely terrific. Chatara dismissed Markram and de Villiers in quick succession - the latter going for just two - and despite a mini-revival from de Kock and Amla, we reduced the hosts to 171-6. De Kock made 76 and combined well with Pretorius for the seventh wicket, but once Williams had removed both, we managed to bowl South Africa out in the final over of the day for 280.

Despite the obvious quality in the South African seam bowling attack, I was hoping we could take a decent first innings lead. My hopes looked to have been over-optimistic at 87-3, but Burl made a half-century to give us some momentum, and contributions from our middle order took us to 242-5. However, Rabada and Philander ripped through our tail, reducing us to 268 all out.

Despite getting Elgar out for 1, the South African batsmen showed their class in the second innings. Amla and du Plessis both made centuries and Markram and de Villiers half-centuries as the hosts piled on the runs. Despite a five-wicket haul for Wellington Masakadza, South Africa were able to declare on 485-7, setting us a target of 498 and giving themselves four sessions to bowl us out.

They barely needed three. Despite an 84-run partnership for the second wicket between Kaia and Burl, the latter again making a half-century, we were unable to resist the quality of Rabada and Steyn, who took five wickets each in the innings. We were bowled out for 230 - a 267-run defeat.


South Africa 1st: 280 (de Kock 76, Pretorius 48; Chatara 4-66, W. Masakadza 3-84)

Zimbabwe 1st: 268 (Burl 57, Ervine 42; Steyn 3-54, Bavuma 2-10)

South Africa 2nd: 485-7 dec (du Plessis 116, Amla 111; W. Masakadza 5-138, Muzarawetu 1-63)

Zimbabwe 2nd: 230 (Burl 55, H. Masakadza 44; Steyn 5-59, Rabada 5-85)

SOUTH AFRICA WON BY 267 RUNS

[Joe Baldwin]

South Africa vs Zimbabwe - 2nd Test - Cape Town

If we could somehow win this Test, we'd overtake the West Indies and move up to 9th in the Test rankings. But that looked on paper to be an extremely tall order, unless we could somehow play out of our skins.

South Africa	Zimbabwe
Aiden Markram	Innocent Kaia
Dean Elgar	Tendai Maruma
Quinton de Kock (wk)	Ryan Burl
AB de Villiers	Peter Moor (wk)
Hashim Amla	Sean Williams
Francois du Plessis	Craig Ervine
Rivaldo Moonsamy	Hamilton Masakadza
Keshav Maharaj	Timycen Maruma
Vernon Philander	Neville Madziva
Kagiso Rabada	Wellington Masakadza
Dale Steyn	Tendai Chatara

Both sides made changes ahead of the second Test. South Africa dropped Bavuma for Moonsamy and Pretorius for Maharaj, while we replaced Muzarawetu with Timycen Maruma. It was Moonsamy's debut, and I felt a touch of complacency was creeping into the South African camp with his selection. Leg-spinner Maruma was brought in as South Africa have a lot of players who prefer pace bowling, and he offers an alternative option to the slow left arm of Masakadza.

We won the toss this time, and elected to bat first. Despite losing Kaia and Maruma fairly early, Burl settled the nerves with his third consecutive half-century, and a 79-run stand for the third wicket came at the perfect time. Williams and Ervine joined in the fun, and together they made 125 for the fifth wicket as the South African bowlers were surprisingly lacklustre. Even Timycen Maruma made a half-century, but Ervine stayed unbeaten all the way to the end of the innings and finished on 131. We made a strong 447, and I thought this would give us a tremendous chance of avoiding defeat at the very least.

Chatara led the charge with the ball, taking two early wickets including Quinton de Kock, who made just 5. We couldn't capitalise on this excellent start, as Elgar and de Villiers produced a 187-run partnership for the third wicket, with the latter completing a century. Once that stand was broken, we regained our grip on the game with five wickets for 41 runs, and only Keshav Maharaj prevented us from taking a commanding first innings lead. The number eight, batting in front of Philander, made 86* and proved immensely frustrating - the last three wickets made 134 runs and it looked like we'd missed a chance at victory. Nevertheless, South Africa's total of 397 was still 50 behind our own effort, and Wellington Masakadza's 6-122 was his sixth five-wicket haul in only his 10th Test.

This was the series that Ryan Burl really announced his ability to the world. Having made three half-centuries in the three innings in the series prior to this, he managed 84 in the second innings and eradicated any thoughts South Africa may have had of winning the Test. Moor made 42, but the other batsmen could only make minor contributions as we looked to declare early on day five. By this point the pitch was extremely bowler-friendly, and we declared an hour into day five with a lead of 318.

The bowlers were unable to make the breakthrough before lunch, but Chatara made the breakthrough after the interval, catching Elgar off his own bowling for 22. Then the spinners set about their work. Maruma dismissed the dangerous Quinton de Kock for 19, before Wellington Masakadza removed de Villiers (10) and Amla (3) very cheaply to leave South Africa four wickets down at tea.

There was no danger that South Africa could chase down the total, so we set attacking fields and kept the spinners on - the pitch was offering sharp turn and the batsmen, other than Moonsamy, all favour pace bowling. Markram and du Plessis made 62 for the fifth wicket, but the reintroduction of Masakadza and Maruma produced a flurry of wickets. First, du Plessis edged Masakadza to Kaia at slip, before he clean bowled Moonsamy for a golden duck. Then, the big wicket of Markram fell - he'd made 71, but Maruma finally beat his defences. With time running out, Masakadza bowled Maharaj to complete his third five-wicket haul of the series, and Philander's resistance was broken by Maruma with just twenty minutes left!

With fifteen minutes left, Maruma ran in, Rabada edged it high in the air... but it landed agonisingly safe!

But with two overs to go, Maruma found Steyn's edge and Hamilton Masakadza pouched the catch, leading to scenes of absolute jubilation in the Zimbabwe camp! They'd won the Test right at the death on the final day, and incredibly, had drawn the series. It was an absolutely incredible performance, which owed so much to Craig Ervine's brilliant century, Ryan Burl's wonderful ability and eleven wickets for Wellington Masakadza.


Zimbabwe 1st: 447 (Ervine 131*, Burl 67; Rabada 3-98, Maharaj 3-99)

South Africa 1st: 397 (de Villiers 110, Maharaj 86*; W. Masakadza 6-122, Chatara 3-72)

Zimbabwe 2nd: 268-9 dec (Burl 84, Moor 42; Steyn 4-77, Philander 2-38)

South Africa 2nd: 188 (Markram 71, du Plessis 33; W. Masakadza 5-44, Ti. Maruma 4-55)

ZIMBABWE WON BY 130 RUNS


What an incredible margin of victory against a wonderful side. I'd be surprised if Moonsamy ever plays for South Africa again - his selection was borne out of over-confidence, but take nothing away from my players. Ryan Burl finished as Man of the Match in the second Test and was also the highest run scorer in the series, scoring 263 runs at 65, with four half-centuries out of four innings. He's moved up to 7th in the Test batting rankings! Wellington Masakadza has risen even higher - his 19 wickets at an average of 20 have made him statistically the 5th best bowler in Test cricket, and the best spinner in the world (the four above him are Josh Hazlewood, Hasan Ali, Neil Wagner and Mitchell Starc)!

We now have three ODI's against South Africa, but frankly, I don't care. This is likely to be one of the best wins of this career, and I'm absolutely overjoyed with it. It's moved us up to 9th in the Test rankings, one point clear of West Indies.

[Joe Baldwin]

South Africa vs Zimbabwe - ODI Series

The final matches of the 2018/2019 season came in the form of a three-match ODI series on the tour of South Africa, and buoyed by our unbelievable Test victory in Cape Town, the players were full of confidence going into the first ODI. We won the toss, electing to bowl first, and it proved to be an inspired decision as our spinners bowled superbly. South Africa's side is full of batsmen who prefer pace bowling, and our three spinners capitalised - Cremer (1-40), Masakadza (1-45) and Williams (2-40) helped us restrict the hosts to 234-7.

Peter Moor and Tarisai Musakanda put on 100 for the first wicket, but Rabada managed to run through Burl, Ervine and Williams to leave us 128-5. It was a spell from which we couldn't recover, and despite a 60 partnership between Hamilton Masakadza and Malcolm Waller, we slumped to 209 all out, 25 runs short.

South Africa: 234-7 (Amla 72, de Villiers 40; Williams 2-40, Madziva 2-59)
Zimbabwe: 209 (Musakanda 71, H. Masakadza 51; Smith 4-38, Rabada 3-40)

In the second ODI, South Africa won the toss and made us bat first. We struggled, losing Moor to the second ball of the innings, but Ryan Burl showed his ability with a flamboyant 84. Nevertheless, I didn't think 239-7 would be enough to defend.

However, the bowlers proved me wrong! At 145-2 South Africa looked like they would cruise to an easy win, but an inspired spell from Chatara (3-32) swung the momentum back in our favour and despite an excellent knock from Francois du Plessis (91*), we took the game to the final over, from which the hosts needed ten runs with one wicket remaining. Nathan Waller bowled it, and removed Rabada to secure a superb six-run victory!

Zimbabwe: 239-7 (Burl 84, Ervine 40; Pretorius 3-50, Rabada 2-32)
South Africa: 233 (du Plessis 91*, Amla 69; Chatara 3-32, W. Masakadza 2-45)

The series decider took place in Pretoria, and again we were put in to bat first after losing the toss. Peter Moor played superbly at the top of the order, anchoring the innings and scoring 90 from 101 balls, but we could have put ourselves in an extremely commanding position had we not lost three wickets to run outs, including Burl when on 53 and Ervine on 32. As it was, we had to make do with 278-7 - we'd still given ourselves a chance!

However, where our bowlers were superb in the first two ODI's, they were absolutely terrible in this one. Williams and Cremer both ended with 1-73 from their ten overs, and the partnership between Amla and de Kock was worth 218 when we finally broke their resistance. Both men made centuries, and what should have been a tricky chase ended in a comfortable seven wicket victory for the hosts.

Zimbabwe: 278-7 (Moor 90, Burl 53; Rabada 1-33, Pretorius 1-48)
South Africa: 279-3 (Amla 133, de Kock 123*; Waller 1-41, Cremer 1-73)

SOUTH AFRICA WIN THE ODI SERIES 2-1

I feel I can take great heart from the tour of South Africa. We competed well in the first two ODI's, and arguably should have won both, but the fact that we have proven we can match Australia and South Africa in ODI matches is a real positive. When you factor in an amazing Test victory over South Africa, it feels like we've come a long way in a short space of time.

The 2019/2020 season looks as follows:

• World Cup in England - we've been drawn in a group with Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Canada and Namibia.
• Tour of Sri Lanka - 2 Tests, 3 ODI's, 2 T20I's.
• Home series vs Bangladesh - 2 Tests, 3 ODI's, 2 T20I's.

There are some important points on the line when we play Bangladesh - we drew our last Test series at home to them, while we have an opportunity to claim points off Sri Lanka when we visit there. Would love to have more than just four Test matches in the year though...