Zimbabwe stun Australia with clinical all-round display

Zimbabwe out-batted, out-bowled and out-fielded Australia to secure a clinical 23-run win against the former champions on Friday. Matt Renshaw's 44-ball 65 proved too little as Australia were bundled out for 146 in response to Zimbabwe's 169 for 2 on a slow-ish surface. It was Zimbabwe's second victory over Australia in as many encounters between the two sides in T20 World Cups.

It is interesting that Zimbabwe managed to clinch this victory at a time when there were a series of injury concerns in the squad. Brendan Taylor - who has been ruled out of the tournament - and Richard Ngarava were ruled out before the game. Skipper Sikandar Raza wasn't in the field for most of the time due to a hamstring issue, and Graeme Cremer bowled four overs despite having split his webbing.

Australia's concerns started early in the chase, when in a bid to go too hard on a slow surface, they lost their top four within 27 balls of their innings, with Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans causing the damage. Renshaw and Glenn Maxwell steadied the innings through the middle, even as the asking rate kept going higher. Their big shots failed to produce the desired results courtesy some excellent work in the deep.

Even as a catch was dropped in the 12th over at long on and the fielder had stepped on the ropes, there were some stunning saves on the boundary line, saving at least seven runs in the latter half of Australia's innings, and ensuring the batters were forced to attempt more big heaves. One of them resulted in the dismissal of Glenn Maxwell, when his attempted hoick in the 15th over ended up crashing the stumps. One of the fielding efforts, in the 18th over by Tony Munyonga, who sprinted 15 metres to his left to take a fine diving catch, sent back Ben Dwarshuis.

Muzarabani, who had ensured the early damage, made sure Australia didn't find a way back despite Renshaw's calculated attack. He used the dimensions of the ground, as well as the wind direction, to good effect and ended up dismissing Renshaw with a cutter. After missing out on a few big shots, Renshaw attempted a heave and got the top edge which didn't carry beyond the inner circle.

The platform for the victory, however, was set up by the batters, who applied themselves extremely well to the conditions after being put in to bat at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani were watchful early on, familiar with the experience of playing previously in Sri Lankan conditions.

The slow start did put some pressure on them, and Marumani went on the offensive in the third over itself, cracking a couple of boundaries off Dwarshuish. And then, in the next over, he brought out his sweeps and reverse sweeps to pick up 14 runs off Glenn Maxwell. Brian Bennett, who had played second fiddle till then, began to cut loose in the last two overs of the powerplay.

The duo added 61 runs before Stoinis induced an outside edge off Marumani in the 8th over, and Australia pulled some momentum back following that dismissal. They managed only 28 runs off the next 22 balls before the first boundary of the next partnership was stroked. Zimbabwe, unlike Australia, were mindful of not going too hard at the bowlers, and not having to hunt for the big sixes. They rotated the strike and were open to the occasional attack to find boundaries.

As the batters started settling in, the boundary opportunities also increased. Bennett brought up his half-century with a single in the 16th over. The partnership had swelled to 70 runs when Ryan Burl hit the ball hard back at the bowler, injuring Marcus Stoinis' fingers. He was taken off the attack and Cameron Green, who came to finish the 16th over, struck off the first ball, having Burl caught with a length delivery that he top-edged.

Bennett and Raza provided the late tempo which pushed Zimbabwe to a healthy total on a surface where Australia failed to adequately apply themselves.

Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 169/2 in 20 overs (Brian Bennett 64*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 35, Ryan Burl 35) beat Australia 146 in 19.3 overs (Matt Renshaw 65, Glenn Maxwell 31; Blessing Muzarabani 4-17, Brad Evans 3-23) by 23 runs