0
HARARE, Nov 29: Blistering batting from Wavell Hinds and explosive bowling by Fidel Edwards led West Indies to a series-levelling victory over Zimbabwe on Saturday.
Hinds scored 127 and fast bowler Edwards took six for 22 as the tourists won the rain-affected fourth One-day International by 72 runs to square the five-match series at 2-2.
After being put into bat, West Indies scored 256 for three before rain ended their innings after 45 overs.
Zimbabwe, set a target of 223 in 32 overs, reached 150 for seven, wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu top-scoring with 66.
West Indies opener Hinds attacked the bowling consistently, pulling and driving with unstoppable power. He faced 141 balls and hit 10 fours and four sixes.
Edwards, playing his first One-day International, bowled with pace and found movement through the air and off the seam to take the first five wickets to fall.
Hinds and Chris Gayle set the tone of the West Indies’ innings in a powerful opening stand of 96 struck off 91 balls.
Gayle was even more aggressive than his partner, smashing 51 off 34, including seven fours and three sixes, before slashing a delivery from medium pacer Sean Ervine to Taibu.
The Zimbabweans celebrated the breakthrough enthusiastically, but they gradually became subdued as Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan re-established control.
They added 107 runs off 127 balls before Sarwan, on 47, square cut a ball from fast bowler Heath Streak to Mark Vermeulen on the cover boundary.
Edwards struck with his first delivery of the match to uproot Barney Rogers’s middle stump.
In his next over Edwards had Vusi Sibanda caught behind for seven by wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs, and with his next ball he trapped Craig Wishart lbw.
In the sixth over Edwards found the shoulder of Vermeulen’s bat with a rising delivery and the ball looped to Chanderpaul at first slip.
Matsikenyeri went for six in Edwards’s next over when he sent a leading edge arching to Corey Collymore at mid-on as Zimbabwe dwindled to 22 for five.
Edwards’ excellent spell ended after five overs in which he took five for 10.
Taibu, whose gritty innings came off 85 balls with seven fours, and Ervine, who was 38 not out, earned Zimbabwe a measure of respectability.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES:
W.W. Hinds not out 127
C.H. Gayle c Taibu b Ervine 51
B.C. Lara c Taibu b Brent 14
R.R. Sarwan c Vermeulen b Streak 47
S. Chanderpaul not out 3
EXTRAS (W-13, NB-1) 14
TOTAL (for three wkts, 45 overs) 256
FALL OF WKTS: 1-96, 2-124, 3-231.
DID NOT BAT: R.L. Powell, R.D. Jacobs, M. Dillon, C.D. Collymore, R. Rampaul, F.H. Edwards.
BOWLING: Streak 8-0-46-1 (4w); Blignaut 8-0-47-0 (1nb, 7w); Ervine 10-1-49-1; Brent 9-0-65-1 (2w); Price 10-0-49-0.
ZIMBABWE:
V. Sibanda c Jacobs b Edwards 7
B. Rogers b Edwards 0
M.A. Vermeulen c Chanderpaul b Edwards 6
C.B. Wishart lbw b Edwards 0
S. Matsikenyeri c Collymore b Edwards 6
H.H. Streak c Powell b Gayle 9
T. Taibu b Edwards 66
S.M. Ervine not out 38
A.M. Blignaut not out 1
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, W-8, NB-1) 18
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 32 overs) 150
FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-10, 3-10, 4-15, 5-22, 6-47, 7-146.
DID NOT BAT: R.W. Price, G.B. Brent.
BOWLING: Dillon 5-0-18-0 (1w); Edwards 7-1-22-6 (1nb, 1w); Rampaul 6-0-35-0 (3w); Gayle 7-2-17-1 (1w); Powell 5-0-28-0 (1w); Hinds 2-0-21-0 (1w).
FIFTH MATCH: Harare, Sunday.—Reuters
